SAN DIEGO (AP) – The Biden administration on Friday announced plans for tens of thousands of people seeking asylum in Mexico who, under Trump-era policies, will have to wait to enter the US while their cases go through immigration courts.
The first wave of an estimated 25,000 asylum seekers with active cases in the “Stay in Mexico” program will be admitted to the United States on February 19, authorities said. They plan to start slowly, with two border crossings each handling up to 300 people per day and a third crossing with fewer numbers.
President Joe Biden’s administration publicly declined to identify the three intersections for fear it could encourage a flow of people, but U.S. Representative Henry Cuellar, a Democrat from Texas, said officials told him it was Brownsville and El Paso in Texas. and that of San Diego. San Ysidro crossing.
The move is an important step toward dismantling one of former President Donald Trump’s most sweeping policies to deter asylum seekers from coming to the US.
On Biden’s first day of workthe Department of Homeland Security has suspended policy for newcomers. Since then, some asylum seekers who have been arrested at the border in the US have been released with an announcement to appear in court.
Biden is quick to deliver on a campaign promise to end the policy, which the Trump administration said was critical to pushing back a wave of asylum seekers that peaked in 2019. But the policy also exposed people to violence in Mexican border towns and cities. made it extremely difficult for them to find lawyers and communicate with courts about their cases.
“As President Biden has made clear, the US government is committed to rebuilding a safe, orderly and humane immigration system,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. “This latest move is another step in our commitment to reforming immigration policies that are inconsistent with our country’s values.”
Asylum seekers will be released with an announcement to appear in court in towns near or at their final destination, usually with family, officials said.
Homeland Security said the move “should not be interpreted as an opening for people to migrate illegally to the United States.” Government officials say the vast majority of people who cross the border illegally are being quickly expelled under a public health order Trump imposed in March amid the coronavirus pandemic. But some asylum-seeking families have been released in Texas and California and are working against those reports.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday that she was concerned that limited releases in the US could encourage others to cross illegally.
“We don’t want people to put themselves at risk when it’s not the right time to come because we haven’t had time to set up a humane and moral system and process,” she said.
Hearings for people enrolled in “Remain in Mexico” have been suspended since June due to the pandemic. Telling them when to report to the border for release in the United States can prove to be a daunting task.
Homeland Security said it would soon announce a “virtual registration process” online and over the phone, so people can learn when and where to report. It urged asylum seekers not to report at the border unless requested to do so.
The International Organization for Migration will assist with logistics and test asylum seekers for COVID-19 before entering the US, spokeswoman Liz Lizama said. Mexico director of the UN migration agency, Dana Graber Ladek, said it will try to educate asylum seekers across the country about eligibility.
The announcement does not provide relief for people whose cases have been dismissed or dismissed, although government officials have not ruled out additional action. Proponents argue that communication problems, including a lack of work addresses in Mexico, caused some people to miss hearings and lose their cases as a result.
Mexico agreed to take back more asylum seekers in June 2019 to defuse Trump’s threats of tariff increases. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador welcomed Biden’s changes, saying at a press conference on Friday that it would be “okay” if the US hosted them instead while its business swayed through the system.
The Remain in Mexico releases will come as more people have been stopped from illegally crossing the border since Biden took office, challenging the administration in his early days.
Raul Ortiz, deputy chief of the Border Patrol, said on Tuesday that more than 3,000 people had been detained in each of the previous 10 days, compared to a daily average of 2,426 in January.
About 50 to 80 adults and children have been arriving daily at Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas since January 27, where people have been temporarily released by the Border Patrol, said Sister Norma Pimentel, the group’s executive director. The charity tests for COVID-19 and sends anyone who tests positive to a hotel for isolation.
The San Diego Jewish Family Service housed 191 asylum seekers in the first 10 days of February after they were released, up from 144 in January and 54 in December, said Eitan Peled, the group’s supporter of the border services. They are quarantined in hotels for 10 days.
Associated Press writer Maria Verza in Mexico City contributed.