Biden Ends Trump-Era ‘Remain in Mexico’ Policy

Homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas does away with 2019 decision credited with curbing migrant flow

Joseph Simonson • June 1, 2021 3:25 pm

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas officially ended the Trump-era  “Remain in Mexico” policy on Tuesday, according to documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

“I have determined that MPP does not adequately or substantially enhance border management in such a way as to justify the program’s extensive operational burden and other shortfalls,” Mayorkas wrote in a signed memo, referring to the “Remain in Mexico” policy by its official name, the Migrant Protection Protocols. “Over the course of the program, border encounters increased during certain periods and decreased during others.”

The “Remain in Mexico” policy, enacted by the Trump administration in January 2019, gave border officers the authority to return migrants who crossed through the southwest border back to Mexico before their scheduled court dates in the United States. The program has been credited with significantly reducing border crossings during President Trump’s term by disincentivizing would-be illegal immigrants from entering the country.

Senior Customs and Border Protection officials expressed alarm at Mayorkas’s memo, with one telling the Free Beacon that the White House “is celebrating our pandemic successes by increasing the risk of cross border COVID spread.”

“The termination of MPP will cause even further strain of our immigration courts and undoubtedly incentivize further migration from Central America,” the official said. “The administration continues to undermine policy that secures our borders.”

In his memo, Mayorkas writes that the COVID-19 pandemic forced “tens of thousands of MPP enrollees [to live] with uncertainty in Mexico as court hearings were postponed indefinitely.” Those delays, as well as supposed humanitarian concerns about forcing migrants back to Mexico, is not “consistent with the Administration’s broader policy objectives,” Mayorkas writes.

The homeland security adviser also recommends the termination of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Title 42 Order, an early pandemic response from Trump that denied entry to any migrants who may pose a public health danger.