Biden formally ends Trump-era ‘Remain in Mexico’ immigration program

The Hill logo

The Biden administration on Tuesday formally nixed the “Remain in Mexico” program, the latest in a series of moves to dismantle the Trump administration’s restrictive immigration policies.

The program, known formally as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), was a cornerstone of Trump’s border management policy; it forced potential asylum seekers to stay in Mexico to wait out the result of their case in U.S. immigration court.

In a memo ending the program Tuesday, Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said the MPP did not help with enhancing the border management. Continue reading.

Republican AGs fight Biden rollback of Trump immigration agenda

The Hill logo

Republican state attorneys general are increasingly turning to the courts in hopes of preserving pieces of former President Trump’s hard-line immigration agenda as President Biden hurries to roll back the policies.

The emerging dynamic is something of a role reversal from when Democratic attorneys general sued Trump for immigration policies that liberals viewed as not only illegal but also cruel, xenophobic and at odds with the country’s immigrant roots.

Now, as Biden rushes toward repeal, he faces potential legal roadblocks of his own. Republican attorneys general say their lawsuits aim to ensure that U.S. immigration law is strongly enforced in order to protect public safety and save billions in tax dollars. Continue reading.

FEMA ordered to help with influx of migrant children at U.S.-Mexico border

“A Border Patrol facility is no place for a child,” said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will help shelter and transfer a record number of child migrants showing up at the U.S.-Mexico border, the Homeland Security secretary said Saturday,

While the administration of President Joe Biden has avoided calling the situation a national emergency as former President Donald Trump declared in 2019 , it acknowledged a rising number of “encounters” at the border since April.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas said FEMA would help children found at the border avoid being treated as detainees of Customs and Border Protection and move them more quickly into the care of the Department of Health and Human Services. Continue reading.

Republicans are lying about Biden’s immigration policy — here’s what’s really going on at the border

AlterNet logo

In right-wing media, one often hears the bogus claim that President Joe Biden, like former President Barack Obama before him, favors an open-borders policy to immigration. But proponents of comprehensive immigration reform are quick to respond that Biden doesn’t favor opens borders any more than Obama did when he was president. And MSNBC reporter Jacob Soboroff, speaking to activists on the Mexican side of the U.S./Mexico border, found that none of the people he interviewed believed that Biden had adopted an ultra-liberal immigration policy.

Soboroff, reporting for MSNBC, entered Tijuana, Mexico from California and found an abundance of “refugees from all over the world” who were hoping to enter the U.S. and finding it to be a major uphill climb. The reporter explained that that they were “trying to find out how, if at all, the policies under the Biden administration are different than under the Trump administration.”

Some of the refugees Soboroff encountered were Haitians who were still in dire straights because of a massive earthquake that hit the country in 2010. Others were refugees from countries in Central America who have been facing harsh economic circumstances because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Continue reading.

Texas family detention centers expected to transform into rapid-processing hubs

Washington Post logo

The Biden administration is preparing to convert its immigrant family detention centers in South Texas into Ellis Island-style rapid-processing hubs that will screen migrant parents and children with a goal of releasing them into the United States within 72 hours, according to Department of Homeland Security draft plans obtained by The Washington Post.

The plans show the Biden administration is racing to absorb a growing number of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border amid shortages of bed space and personnel. Republicans and some Democrats fear that relaxing detention policies will exacerbate a surge that is already straining the Biden administration.

Russell Hott, a senior official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, notified staff of the rapid-processing plan in an email Thursday that said arrivals by unaccompanied minors and families this year “are expected to be the highest numbers observed in over 20 years.” Continue reading.

Biden admin will allow families separated under Trump to remain in US

The Hill logo

The Biden administration will allow families separated at the southern border by the Trump administration to reunite and remain in the U.S., the White House announced Monday.

“We are hoping to reunite the families, either here or in their country of origin. We hope to be in a position to give them the election. And if, in fact they seek to reunite here in the United States, we will explore lawful pathways for them to remain in the United States, and to address the family needs,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said at a press briefing.

“We are acting as restoratively as possible.” Continue reading.