Biden to allow hundreds of asylum seekers to enter the United States every DAY from next week as he reverses Trump's Remain In Mexico policy which left 25,000 at the border
The Biden administration on Friday announced plans for tens of thousands of people who are seeking asylum and have been forced to wait in Mexico under a Trump-era policy to be allowed into the U.S. while their cases wind through immigration courts.
The first wave of an estimated 25,000 asylum-seekers with active cases in the 'Remain in Mexico' program will be allowed into the United States on February 19, authorities said.
On average, roughly 85 per cent of Central American asylum claims are rejected by U.S. courts.
They plan to start slowly, with two border crossings each processing up to 300 people a day and a third crossing taking fewer numbers.
Biden signs an executive order on immigration on February 2, as Alejandro Mayorkas looks on
Honduran migrants are seen voluntarily returning to their country on January 19
Migrants wait in line to get a meal in an encampment near the Gateway International Bridge in Matamoros, Mexico, in August 2019
President Joe Biden's administration declined to publicly identify the three crossings out of fear it may encourage a rush of people.
Representative Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat, said officials told him that the three border crossings are Brownsville and El Paso in Texas, and San Diego's San Ysidro crossing.
The move is a major step toward dismantling one of former president Donald Trump's most consequential policies to deter asylum-seekers from coming to the U.S.
About 70,000 asylum-seekers were enrolled in the program officially called Migrant Protection Protocols since it was introduced in January 2019.
On Biden's first day in office, the Homeland Security Department suspended the policy for new arrivals.
Since then, some asylum-seekers picked up at the border have been released in the U.S. with notices to appear in court.
Biden is quickly making good on a campaign promise to end the policy, which the Trump administration said was critical to reversing a surge of asylum-seekers that peaked in 2019.
But the policy also exposed people to violence in Mexican border cities and made it extremely difficult for them to find lawyers and communicate with courts about their cases.
Alejandro Mayorkas, Homeland Security Secretary, said Biden was keeping his promises
Biden has halted construction of Donald Trump's multi-billion-dollar border wall
'As President Biden has made clear, the U.S. government is committed to rebuilding a safe, orderly, and humane immigration system,' said Alejandro Mayorkas, Homeland Security Secretary.
'This latest action is another step in our commitment to reform immigration policies that do not align with our nation's values.'
Asylum-seekers will be released with notices to appear in court in cities close to or in their final destinations, typically with family, administration officials said.
Homeland Security said the move 'should not be interpreted as an opening for people to migrate irregularly to the United States.'
In January a caravan of nearly 8,000 Central Americans, mostly from Honduras, were stopped in Guatemala from illegally advancing toward the border with Mexico.
Administration officials say the vast majority of people who cross the border illegally are quickly expelled under a public health order that Trump put in place in March amid the coronavirus pandemic.
But some asylum-seeking families have been released in Texas and California, working against that messaging.
Biden announced at the beginning of February that he is planning to increase the admissions of refugees to 125,000 in the coming fiscal year, a more than eight-fold increase after Trump slashed levels to historic lows.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday that she was concerned limited releases in the U.S. may encourage others to cross illegally.
'We don't want people to put themselves in danger at a time where it is not the right time to come, because we have not had time to put in place a humane and moral system and process,' she said.
On Tuesday a dozen Guatemalan migrants were found hiding inside a pickup truck's flatbed during a traffic stop in the Mexican Gulf coast state of Veracruz.
The Mexican National Guard reportedly heard screams when they pulled over the driver for not wearing a seatbelt, at a checkpoint on the highway in the municipality of Los Choapas.
The migrants were shouting for help after suffering in the unbearable heat in the cramped interior.
'Noises were heard in the cargo area and some voices calling for help due to the extreme heat in the region,' the National Migration Institute said in a statement.
Soldiers found the immigrants sitting next to each other, in two rows, in the back of the pickup truck with sofas covering each side, and a tarp over the top.
The migrants were deported back Guatemala.
A Mexican National Guard member inspects a pickup truck that was stopped Tuesday in Veracruz with 12 Guatemalan migrants hidden inside. They were provided medical attention and then processed by the National Migration Institute before they were deported to Guatemala
The inspection of a pickup truck (pictured) led Mexico's National Guard to 12 Guatemala migrants hidden in the flatbed of the vehicle moments after the driver was pulled over on a highway in Las Choapas, Veracruz, for driving without a seatbelt
Court hearings for people enrolled in 'Remain in Mexico' have been suspended since June because of the pandemic.
Getting word to them about when to report to the border for release in the United States may prove a daunting job.
Homeland Security said it would soon announce a 'virtual registration process' online and by phone for people to learn where and when they should report.
It urged asylum-seekers not to report to the border unless instructed.
The International Organization for Migration will help with logistics and test asylum-seekers for COVID-19 before they enter the U.S., spokeswoman Liz Lizama said.
The U.N. migration agency's Mexico director, Dana Graber Ladek, said it will seek to inform asylum-seekers across the country about eligibility.
Honduran migrants are blocked by Guatemalan soldiers and police from advancing toward the US border, also affecting cargo trucks on the highway in Vado Hondo, Guatemala, on Jan 18
The announcement provides no relief to people whose cases were dismissed or denied, though administration officials did not rule out additional measures.
Advocates argue that communication problems, including lack of working 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 news conference on Friday that it would be 'good' for the U.S. to host them instead while their cases wind through the system.
The Remain in Mexico releases will come as more people are getting stopped crossing the border illegally since Biden took office, challenging the administration in its early days.
Raul Ortiz, deputy chief of the Border Patrol, said Tuesday that more than 3,000 people had been stopped in each of the previous 10 days, compared with a daily average of 2,426 in January.
About 50 to 80 adults and children have been arriving daily since January 27 at Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, which temporarily houses people 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.
Jewish Family Service of San Diego housed 191 asylum-seekers 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 border services advocate.
They are quarantined in hotels for 10 days.
