Despite the fact that the Supreme Court upheld in August a lower court decision requiring the agency to re-implement the so called “remain in Mexico” immigration program, DHS informed on Wednesday it intends to issue a new memo in the coming weeks to end the program, Reuters reports.
The US Department of Homeland Security noted it would uphold the injunction “in good faith,” but it plans to again rescind what is formally known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) once the injunction is lifted.
It also has a task force to restore the infrastructure to implement MPP, one of the most controversial Trump-era immigration programs that has often led to migrants encamping in Mexican border cities in dangerous and unsanitary conditions.
The DHS announcement pointed that in issuing a new memorandum terminating MPP, it intends to address the concerns raised by the courts and added that, in the meantime, the agency has ongoing high-level diplomatic discussions with Mexico.
No details have been published on the arguments that Biden administration diplomats are offering to Mexicans for them to accept a renewal of the program considering the fact that former President Trump was forced to essentially threaten Mexico- reluctant to accept the migrants ejected from the US – with sanctions.
In line with MPP, DHS returned as many as 70,000 migrants to Mexico during the Trump administration, creating refugee camps in Mexican border cities.
MPP envisions initiating the asylum process by the US authorities that later expel the migrants to Mexican territory to wait out their immigration court proceedings in that country. Immigration advocates challenged the MPP in the US claiming the program is a direct violation of US and international asylum laws.
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