The Biden administration has reached a deal with the Mexican government to restart the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” program that requires asylum seekers to wait outside U.S. territory while their claims are processed, two U.S. officials and a Mexican government official said late Wednesday.
The governments are planning to announce the agreement Thursday, according to two of the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the agreement before a formal announcement. Implementation of the program, formerly known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), is expected to begin next week in San Diego and in the Texas cities of Brownsville, Laredo and El Paso, one official said.
The new iteration of the program “will be fairly close to the previous version,” said another official with knowledge of the plans…
Officials in the United States are planning to initially use the MPP program primarily for single adult asylum seekers, who account for the majority of illegal border crossings, according to one official. Mexico is willing to accept asylum seekers from Spanish-speaking countries, as with the previous version of the program, the person said.
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