DHS to End 'Remain in Mexico,' Asylum Seekers to Enter US

The Department of Homeland Security announced it is preparing to quickly halt the “Remain in Mexico” program and won’t send asylum seekers back across the border to await a ruling on their applications for U.S. protection, The Washington Post has reported.

DHS officials said asylum seekers waiting in Mexico for their U.S. immigration court hearing would be permitted to cross the border on the day of their case and remain in the United States pending a decision, a process which can often take a long time.

The DHS statement said that the program, formally known as the “Migrant Protection Protocols” (MPP) and enacted during the Trump administration, has “endemic flaws, imposes unjustifiable human costs, and pulls resources and personnel away from other priority efforts to secure our border.”