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The Trump Administration's Policy of Forcing Asylum Applicants to Wait in Mexico has been Officially Repealed by the Biden Administration

The Trump Administration's Policy of Forcing Asylum Applicants to Wait in Mexico has been Officially Repealed by the Biden Administration

The Biden administration formally terminated a Trump administration policy that had compelled 68,000 asylum claimants to wait in Mexico before their immigration court appearances in the United States.

Individuals entering or seeking admission into the United States from Mexico may be returned to Mexico and forced to stay there while their immigration procedures under the Migrant Protection Protocols Program, which is expected to begin in 2019.

The program had been challenged in court, and the Supreme Court was set to hear oral arguments on the issue. Due to the program's termination in January, the Biden administration requested that the arguments be cancelled, and the Supreme Court pulled the cases from its docket.

In January, then-Acting Secretary David Pekoske put the initiative on hold. On February 2, President Joe Biden signed Executive Order 14010, instructing the Department of Homeland Security to evaluate the program and explore a "phased plan for the safe and orderly admission" of asylum seekers who had been forced to wait in Mexico into the United States.

Additionally, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas released a document formally terminating the Migrant Protection Protocols Program. Mayorkas noted that the initiative had “mixed efficacy in accomplishing some of its major aims and that the initiative faced considerable challenges” when it was terminated.

It did not, however, "adequately or sustainably improve border management in such a way as to justify the program's considerable operational costs and other deficiencies." As a result, he authorized DHS staff to take immediate action to discontinue the program while continuing to engage in the existing phased plan for the entrance of those who were enrolled in it.