Supreme Court examines Biden’s power to set US immigration policy in ‘Remain in Mexico’ challenge

(CNN)The Biden administration will ask the Supreme Court on Tuesday to allow it to terminate a Trump-era border policy known as “Remain in Mexico,” a case that will be a test of the White House’s ability to set immigration policy.

Date: April 26th, 2022

Source: CNN

Under the unprecedented program launched in 2019, the Department of Homeland Security sent certain non-Mexican citizens who entered the US back to Mexico — instead of detaining them or releasing them into the United States — while their immigration proceedings played out. 

Critics call the policy inhumane and say it exposes asylum seekers with credible claims to dangerous and squalid conditions. Migrants subject to the program — formally known as Migrant Protection Protocols — have resided in makeshift camps along Mexico’s northern border.

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Migrant misses U.S. court date after being kidnapped in Mexico, putting future in limbo

Migrants placed in the Remain in Mexico program under Trump languish in uncertainty, after circumstances force them to miss court.

Date: March 28th, 2022

Source: Kens5

In south Texas’ Kenedy County, just two sheriff’s deputies per shift are assigned to patrol a region of nearly 2,000 square miles at any given time. And that’s on a good day. 

A captain with the department tells KENS 5 that isn’t enough to deal with the number of suspected migrants dying in Kenedy County fields.

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Ukrainian family turned away at Mexico border allowed into US

Mother and three children were sent back at US-Mexico border under widely denounced US restriction known as Title 42.

Date: March 11th, 2022

Source: Al Jazeera

A Ukrainian mother and her three children have been allowed into the United States after being turned back to Mexico under a widely criticised pandemic measure that bars entry to most asylum seekers who arrive at the US border, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed.

The San Diego Union-Tribune first reported late on Wednesday that the 34-year-old woman and her children were turned away at the US southern border under Title 42, a contentious policy first invoked by former President Donald Trump in March 2020 due to the coronavirus.

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Migrants are sewing their lips shut to protest the policy that stranded them in Mexico

Date: Feb 17, 2022

Source: Vox News

Migrants stranded in southern Mexico because of US and Mexican border policies are taking increasingly drastic measures to draw attention to their plight. On Tuesday, a dozen migrants staged a protest in which they sewed their lips together and went on a hunger strike.

They are among the thousands staying in what has become known as an “open-air prison” in the city of Tapachula on Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala. Migrants there have struggled to access food and shelter, and have reported being preyed on by government officials.

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Mexico detains more than 1,200 migrants in 1 day

Date: February 18, 2022

Source: DW News

Mexican authorities on Thursday detained 1,266 migrants in the last 24 hours, Mexico’s National Migration Institute (INM) said.

The migration agency said they were detained across operations carried out in 22 states of the country.

Those intercepted arrived from “different continents that were transiting irregularly,” the INM said, identifying migrants from at least 33 countries.

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Mexico steps up migrant raids in city near Guatemalan border

Date: February 3, 2022

Source: ABC News

TAPACHULA, Mexico — Mexican immigration agents and National Guard have stepped up raids on migrants staying in small hotels and on the streets of the southern city of Tapachula, near the Guatemalan border, activists said Thursday.

The city has become a sort of way station for migrants from Central America, Haiti, Cuba and other places, because Mexico requires many people file for refugee or asylum status there.

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Migrants in Mexico are on their own against omicron

US border policies have left them stuck in Mexico without adequate health care access.

Date: Jan. 30th, 2022

Source: Vox

Much like in the US, omicron has led a spike in caseloads and hospitalizations across Mexico. For thousands of migrants stranded in the country due to US border policy, that has meant exposure to the highly contagious variant. Worse, many of these migrants face the prospect of Covid-19 infection without widespread access to vaccines or health care.

Migrants are legally entitled to public health care in Mexico, but nonprofits serving migrants say hospitals are overwhelmed by Mexican Covid-19 patients, and as a result, migrants are the first to be turned away.

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Mexico saw refugee, asylum claims almost double in 2021

01/04/2022

Source: ABC News

The number of people applying for refugee or asylum status in Mexico almost doubled between 2019 and 2021, reaching a historic high of over 130,000, authorities said Monday.

While there was a dip in 2020, that was largely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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Biden administration reimposes ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy

01/04/2022

Source: ABC News

Biden administration officials further outlined a plan for the implementation of the “MPP” or “Remain in Mexico” policy on a conference call with reporters Monday while underscoring a commitment to ending the program and describing safeguards designed to improve conditions for asylum seeking enrollees.

A central criticism of the MPP program — which bars asylum seekers from entering the U.S. while immigration courts review their claims — was the lack of access to U.S. legal services for enrollees forced into makeshift Mexican border camps. Now, the Biden administration is working with legal service providers and promising 24-hour consultation windows to assist with screening interviews and immigration court cases.

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After weeks walking, Mexico migrant caravan splits up on buses headed north

12/23/2021

Source: Reuters

Several hundred migrants that left southern Mexico in a caravan two months ago began boarding buses to northern Mexico on Wednesday, after reaching a deal with the Mexican government that will bring them closer to their dream of reaching the United States.

The caravan left the southern city of Tapachula near Mexico’s border with Guatemala in late October with some 3,000 people, but hundreds gave up the tough journey as they trekked on foot for weeks.

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