REMAIN in Mexico Act would keep Department of Homeland Security’s Trump-era “remain in Mexico” policy for asylum seekers.
President Joe Biden suspended the policy on his first day in office.
Context
In December 2018, the Donald Trump administration announced a new immigration policy, officially called the Migrant Protection protocols (MPP) but popularly nicknamed ‘Remain in Mexico.’
Previously, asylum seekers arriving in the U.S. through the southern border with Mexico were permitted to remain in the U.S. while the American legal system processed their cases. Under the new policy, they had to remain in Mexico instead — even if they had no connection to Mexico. Indeed, the first person ever affected by the new policy was a man named Carlos Gómez Perdomo from Honduras.
The Biden administration ended the policy on its first day in office, and in February resumed processing the approximately 25,000 active asylum cases for people who still remain in Mexico. During the two years when the policy was in effect, 71,036 total asylum cases were filed under the policy, of which about 1.5 percent were accepted for asylum.
What the bill does
The REMAIN (Returning Excessive Migrants and Asylee to International Neighbors) in Mexico) Act would re-institute the Migrant Protection Protocols policy.
It was introduced in the House on February 23 as H.R. 1259, by Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-MT0). No exact Senate replica has been introduced, although a Senate bill called the Secure and Protect Act would constitute a wider immigration overhaul, of which one component would be reinstating the MPP.
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H.R.1259 – REMAIN in Mexico Act of 2021
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