Biden’s New Order Leaves Migrants at Border in Limbo Over Asylum Fate
President Joe Biden’s administration is leaving migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in limbo over the fate of asylum, as it grapples with a surge in arrivals and a court order that has blocked a key policy change.
The administration has been working to reverse a Trump-era policy that required asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for their U.S. court hearings, a practice known as the Migrant Protection Protocols, or MPP. The policy was widely criticized by advocates for migrants, who said it left them vulnerable to violence and abuse.
But a federal judge in Texas issued a preliminary injunction on March 15, blocking the Biden administration from ending the program. The judge ruled that the administration had not provided a sufficient reason for ending the program, and that the move would cause irreparable harm to the states of Texas and Missouri.
The Biden administration has appealed the ruling, but in the meantime, it has been unable to end the MPP program. This has left migrants at the border in a difficult situation, as they are unsure whether they will be able to seek asylum in the United States or whether they will be sent back to Mexico to wait.
The administration has said that it is working to find a solution to the problem, but it has not provided a clear timeline for when the MPP program will be ended. In the meantime, the number of migrants arriving at the border has continued to rise, with more than 100,000 encounters with Border Patrol agents in February, the highest monthly total in more than two decades.
Advocates for migrants have criticized the Biden administration for not moving more quickly to end the MPP program, and for not providing clear guidance to migrants about their options for seeking asylum. They have also expressed concern about the conditions in Mexico, where many migrants have been subjected to violence and abuse.
The Biden administration has said that it is working to address these concerns, and that it is committed to ensuring that migrants are treated with dignity and respect. But for many migrants at the border, the uncertainty over their asylum status is causing significant anxiety and hardship.