CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) - Two migrants were returned to Mexico this Wednesday from the United States behind the reactivation of a program that began during the administration of former President Donald Trump for asylum seekers, reported a spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and witnesses from Reuters.
Both nations agreed to restart the controversial Migrant Protection Protocols program (MPP, for its acronym in English), which forces people seeking asylum to wait in the Latin American nation for their hearings before a US immigration court after the ruling by a federal judge in August.
"I feel good, thank God because I'm alive, partly a little sad," he told Reuters Enrique Manzanares, a Nicaraguan who earlier returned to Mexico under the MPP. The man said that US officials explained to him what the provision was and also showed documents.
Mexico conditioned the restart of the agreement on Washington meeting certain criteria, including offering vaccines to those affected. The first two migrants entered the Latin American nation through the Ciudad Juárez border crossing, off El Paso, Texas, according to the IOM spokesperson.
A spokesperson for the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) confirmed that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) began the reimplementation of the MPP, also known as "Stay in Mexico", by court order in one place, without giving further details.
"For operational security reasons, DHS is not sharing details such as the location of initial returns or the number of people enrolled," he explained. A Mexican official who asked not to be identified told Reuters that on Wednesday the return of those two migrants was only expected.
The agreement has been rejected since its inception by human rights organizations that argue that it violates the rights of migrants, especially those who are returned to violent border cities.
"It is a setback in immigration policy between Mexico and the United States, a sign that Trump's power continues to weigh on the US Congress and Court, even more than the Biden's promises", said to Reuters Misael Hernández, expert on immigration issues from the Colegio de la Frontera Norte (Colef).
(Reporting by José Luis González and Daina Solomon, additional reporting by Dave Graham and Lizbeth Díaz in Mexico City, editing by Adriana Barrera and Raúl Cortés Fernández)
What do you think?
COMMENTFiled in: