The administration Biden and Mexico have not yet agreed to restart a program of the era Trump which obliges asylum seekers to wait for judicial hearings of USA in the Latin American country, because certain conditions must first be met, two Mexican officials said Wednesday.
The American medium Axios reported earlier than returns under the program officially known as Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) could restart next week.
But one of Mexico’s two representatives said it was unlikely that an agreement would be reached this week.
The Department of Homeland Security The US informed in a statement that it was working to resume the program “as soon as possible”, but that it could not do so without the consent of the neighboring country.
The two Mexican government officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, explained that talks were underway to determine under what terms Washington could start the returns.
The Latin American nation insists that the United States provide more support against the Covid-19 for migrants, such as vaccinations, more legal assistance for asylum seekers and speeding up hearings for those participating in the return program, said a senior Mexican official.
The President’s Administration Joe Biden, who promised to undo some of the hard-line immigration policies of his predecessor, Donald Trump, put an end to MPP. The scheme makes asylum seekers wait in Mexico for hearings before US immigration judges.
But a federal judge ordered the government to restart the program, saying it had not followed proper regulatory procedure. The Supreme Court In August, the US rejected a government appeal against the lower court’s ruling.
Late last month, Washington again tried to end the program, hoping to address the judge’s concerns. But he also explained that he was moving to comply with the court’s order.
Biden has been under political and humanitarian pressure regarding immigration due to an increase in migratory flows at the US border.
Migrant advocates argue that the MPP program exposed those people to violence and kidnappings in dangerous border cities, where people camped for months or years waiting for hearings in the United States.
In bilateral negotiations, Mexico has sought to ensure that new returns are carried out in a more controlled manner and that particularly vulnerable migrants and unaccompanied minors are excluded, Mexican officials said.
The two added that the Mexican government is trying to secure a commitment from the United States to provide additional support to international organizations that help care for the migrants and shelters along the border between the two countries. When the MPP was in place under the Trump era, a sprawling encampment emerged in the border city of Matamoros, in a Mexican region plagued by violence.
In its report, Axios quoted a Department of Homeland Security official as claiming that the policy would initially be reinstated in El Paso, Texas, Brownsville, Texas, across from Matamoros and San Diego.
Axios reported that the Biden administration would give asylum seekers the option of receiving a Covid-19 vaccine.
Although the US president has tried to reverse some immigration measures of the Trump era, he has maintained the radical expulsion policy initiated at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.
That policy removes most of the migrants caught crossing the border without giving them the opportunity to apply for asylum.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx