SAN DIEGO – Last night, the Biden administration announced it will issue a new memo to re-terminate the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), also known as “Remain in Mexico.” This Trump-era policy has forced tens of thousands of migrants who traveled to the United States through Mexico to remain there while their asylum claims are processed.
The administration issued its first memo to end MPP on June 1, 2021. However, a federal district court in Texas last month barred the government from doing so, saying proper procedures were not followed and ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to restart the controversial program “in good faith.”
In anticipation of the new memo, the ACLU Foundation of San Diego & Imperial Counties (ACLUF-SDIC) today issued the following statement:
“The ACLU welcomes the Biden administration’s announcement of its intent to issue a memo to terminate the MPP program once and for all,” said Monika Y. Langarica, immigrants’ rights staff attorney for the ACLUF-SDIC. “DHS must do everything in its power to bring MPP to an end and to ensure all people previously subjected to this disastrous policy can exercise their legal and human right to seek asylum in the United States.”
“We continue to urge the administration to immediately rescind all policies that obstruct access to asylum at the border, including the Title 42 order, which results in many of the same harms to people seeking protection as MPP,” she concluded.
