Why ‘remain in Mexico’ policy is worth preserving

Less than a year after canceling former President Donald Trump’s “remain in Mexico” policy towards migrants attempting to enter the US, the Biden administration has started enforcing it again — all too reluctantly. Restoring the policy is a necessary step towards gaining control over the crisis at the country’s southern border. The administration should work with Mexico to make it more efficient and humane.
Under Trump’s policy, officially called the Migrant Protection Protocols (or MPP), migrants who were apprehended at the border were required to stay in Mexico while they waited for their cases to be heard. Between 2019 and 2021, about 70,000 people were returned to the Mexican side of the border. Those whose cases made it to the front of the queue were allowed to enter the US for court hearings, but had to return to Mexico until a final determination was made about their status.
There’s evidence that this policy yielded results. Apprehensions on the southwestern border fall 30% in its first year. The US also appears to expedited the processing of claims for those in the program. Because of a backlog of 1.3 million immigration cases, migrants in the US can go years before their first court date.
Even so, the program wasn’t without flaws. Critics faulted the administration for failing to provide adequate transportation for migrants to make court hearings; as a result, thousands lost their asylum cases in absentia and were deported. Those waiting in Mexico endured harsh living conditions with little protection from the weather, gangs and human traffickers.
President Joe Biden instructed federal immigration agencies to stop enrolling migrants into MPP and allow those in Mexico to wait in the US while their cases were processed. In August, a federal judge found that the administration had improperly rescinded the policy and ordered it reinstated, a ruling upheld by the Supreme Court.
Biden’s rush to undo any immigration policies associated with his predecessor has contributed to upheaval at the border and encouraged more people to risk their lives trying to reach the US. In the process, it has undermined public support for the comprehensive immigration reforms the country needs. Strengthening MPP, rather than discarding it, is the best way to restore confidence in the government’s ability to administer a more fair and orderly system.
—Bloomberg