© Omar Ornelas/El Paso Times / USA TODAY NETWORK
Syndication: El Paso Times
SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Biden administration has struck an agreement with Mexico to next week reinstate a Trump-era border policy that forces asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration court, U.S. officials said Thursday.
Revival of the “Remain in Mexico” policy comes under a court order even as the administration maneuvers to end it in a way that survives legal scrutiny. President Joe Biden scrapped the policy, but a lawsuit by Texas and Missouri has forced him to put it back into effect.
About 70,000 asylum-seekers have been subject to the policy, which President Donald Trump introduced in January 2019 and which Biden suspended on his first day in office.
Illegal border crossings fell sharply after Mexico, facing Trump’s threat of higher tariffs, acquiesced in 2019 to the policy’s rapid expansion. Asylum-seekers were victims of major violence while waiting in Mexico and faced a slew of legal obstacles, such as access to attorneys and case information.
Migrants are expected to be returned starting Monday at one border city and soon after in three others. They are San Diego and Texas crossings in El Paso, Laredo and Brownsville. The sequence has yet to be determined.
Thursday’s announcement follows intense bilateral negotiations between the U.S. and Mexico after U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee in Amarillo, Texas, ordered the policy be reinstated, subject to Mexico’s participation.
The policy’s new iteration, outlined for reporters by administration officials who spoke on the condition that they not be named, includes major additions and changes that Mexico demanded.
All migrants subject to the policy will be vaccinated against COVID-19. Adults will get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which requires only one shot. Children who are eligible under U.S. guidelines will get the Pfizer shot, with second shots when they come to the U.S. for their first hearings.
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