Asylum seekers must wait in Mexico once again

 Posted on December 27, 2021 in Immigration

The Biden Administration recently announced that it will restore a Trump-era policy regarding migrants waiting for immigration hearings. Any migrants who wish to enter the U.S. seeking asylum will once again need to stay in Mexico until the date of their hearing arrives.

According to NPR, Mexico will allow asylum seekers to return to the country to await their hearing dates. The revival of this policy will affect approximately 70,000 people seeking asylum in the U.S.

Why the policy came back

President Donald Trump originally put this policy into place in January 2019, and President Joe Biden suspended this requirement the day he became president. The revival of this migration policy occurs under court order, even though the Biden administration wishes to end it. A lawsuit brought forward by Missouri and Texas required this asylum policy to go back into effect as long as Mexico accepted.

Cities where asylum seekers can return through

The U.S. government will return asylum seekers to one border city, and there will be three other border cities that will soon open up to migrants in the coming days. These cities will include El Paso, Laredo and Brownsville.

Migrants who return to Mexico to await their immigration hearings as a result of this revived policy may only have to wait up to 180 days. The U.S. Justice Department has also assigned 22 immigration judges who will oversee these cases exclusively in an attempt to expedite this process and allow asylum seekers permission to enter the U.S.