Posted on June 2, 2021

Joe Biden Ends Donald Trump’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ Immigration Policy

UPI, June 2, 2021

The Biden administration has formally ended a Donald Trump immigration policy that forced tens of thousands of asylum seekers to await their U.S. court dates in Mexico.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced the end of the Migrant Protection Protocols in a six-page memo on Tuesday, stating he has determined after a review that the policy does not “adequately or sustainably enhance border management” to justify its existence.

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{snip}“Furthermore, termination is most consistent with the administration’s broader policy objective and the department’s operational needs.”

Implemented in late January 2019 and continuing until President Joe Biden put a halt to it on his first day in office, the policy directed border officials to return some 68,000 people to Mexico.

In early February, Biden signed a series of executive orders, including one directing a review and reform of the controversial policy. That same month, the Department of Homeland Security announced it would start allowing those who had begun immigration proceedings to return to the United States, with some 11,200 re-entering the country between Feb. 19 and May 25.

Republicans met the termination of the policy with swift condemnation as Rep. John Katko, R-N.Y., the lead GOP member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said it was another signal from the Biden administration that “the U.S. borders are open to illegal immigration.”

“This is a very serious mistake,” he said in a statement. “The common thread across President Biden’s continued actions is unwinding common-sense border security policies while putting our homeland security on the back burner.”

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