The Quaker conscience of FCNL calls us to seek a world in which United States policies promote and respect the rights, safety, humanity, and dignity of all immigrant communities. Many obstacles thwart this vision, but we are working boldly towards this reality.
On June 30, the Supreme Court brought us closer to a world that honors migration justice. The tribunal cleared the way for the Biden administration to end the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPPs), also known as the “Remain in Mexico” program. The administration has already tried twice to end the policy, but faced setbacks in lower courts.
Countless communities have escaped violence, torture and instability in their homelands to find them at the US border.
Since the Trump administration created Remain in Mexico in 2019, thousands of asylum seekers and migrants could not reside in the United States while awaiting their immigration court hearings. Instead, staying in Mexico forced more over 70,000 individuals and families seek refuge in the United States to face indefinite limbo and remain in extremely dangerous conditions makeshift camps in Mexico.
The policy has accompanied a series of hostile and anti-immigrant Trump administration initiatives, including family separation, border restrictions on asylum during the pandemic and attempts to repeal protections for communities without papers.
Staying in Mexico is a violation of human rights. Countless communities have escaped violence, torture and instability in their homelands to find them at the US border. Atrocities continue in Mexico. Migrant groups endured dangerous conditions in Mexico, including theft, kidnapping, rape, other forms of assault and, in some cases, death. Unsurprisingly, the travesties of Remain in Mexico threatened the Mexican government’s desire to keep running the program.
It is time for this abusive Trump-era policy to end.
At FCNL, we are convinced “that security for some [cannot] be achieved by means that use or lead to violence and insecurity for others. Otherwise, we undermine our own humanity as we passively witness the persistence of acts of institutional violence in the name of security, order and the rule of law.
We call on the administration to complete the process to quickly end the stay in Mexico and all the pain it causes.
Migration policies must take into account the well-being of individuals, regardless of their status. The United States must reorient its migration policies to prioritize safe and humanitarian practices, due process, and basic needs– including access to education, health care, food, water, housing and trauma-informed care for survivors of unfathomable horror.
We must resist the growing and shameful narrative that vulnerable communities are a threat to the nation’s security. With this Supreme Court ruling in hand, the Biden administration can now take a necessary step toward a humane welcome at borders. We call on the administration to complete the process to quickly end the stay in Mexico and all the pain it causes.
