Late Monday, the Department of Homeland Security quietly decided to end the "Remain in Mexico" policy, officially opening the southern border to any and all comers.
The policy was put in place because the idea was that legitimate asylum seekers would remain in Mexico for asylum, or be deported there until the United States could process them.
But now, any semblance of having a closed border has been completely abandoned by the DHS.
The announcement came after U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk lifted his injunction blocking Biden officials from ending the program, formally known as the "Migrant Protection Protocols" or MPP.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled June 30 that the Biden administration had the authority to terminate the program, opening a path for DHS to finally bring a close to one of the Trump administration's most contentious border measures.
DHS officials said asylum seekers waiting in Mexico for their appointments in the U.S. immigration court would be allowed to cross the border on the day of their hearings and stay in the United States while awaiting an outcome.
One of the few Trump policies that has remained in place this long, something that at least attempted to stem the tide of illegal immigration, has now been officially tossed out.
The borders are now, officially, wide open.
President Biden quickly ended the program after taking office, but (Judge) Kacsmaryk last fall sided with several Republican-led state officials who sued the administration to force a restart of MPP. Between December 2021 and early July, about 5,800 asylum seekers were sent back to Mexico to await their U.S. court dates, the latest DHS records show. Most were adults from Nicaragua and Venezuela.
Under President Donald Trump, his administration used MPP much more aggressively, sending nearly 70,000 back to Mexico after negotiating the program with Mexican authorities and implementing it in late 2018. Trump officials said the returns were necessary to prevent migrants from using the U.S. asylum system to avoid detention and deportation.
Asylum seekers with pending claims are typically allowed to live and work in the United States while awaiting a response. The process can drag out for several years because U.S. immigration courts are swamped by backlogs.
The Biden DHS was already largely ignoring Trump's policy, even with the judge saying Biden couldn't undo the policy.
Now, "asylum seekers," meaning anyone who makes a claim of asylum legitimate or not, will be released into the US to work and wait for their court date.
I'm sure none of them will disappear and never show up for their court case. There's no way that could happen.
If you thought the border was already bad, just wait.
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