Migrants seeking to enter the United States will again have to stay in Mexico as they await immigration hearings, as the Biden administration reluctantly announced plans Thursday to comply with a court order and accept conditions set out by Mexico for resuming the Trump-era policy.
Mexico’s foreign relations secretary said Mexico will allow returns, beginning next week, in light of U.S. concessions “for humanitarian reasons and for temporary stays.”
Revival of the “Remain in Mexico” policy comes under a court order even as the Biden administration maneuvers to end it in a way that survives legal scrutiny. President Joe Biden scrapped the policy, but a lawsuit by Texas and Missouri has forced him to put it back into effect, subject to Mexico’s acceptance.
About 70,000 asylum-seekers have been subject to the policy, which President Donald Trump introduced in January 2019 and which Biden suspended on his first day in office.
Illegal border crossings fell sharply after Mexico, facing Trump’s threat of higher tariffs, acquiesced in 2019 to the policy’s rapid expansion.
