The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), headed by President Joe Biden, is ending the “Remain in Mexico” program of former President Trump despite its enormous success in eliminating asylum fraud by border crossers and illegal immigrants hoping to remain in the United States.
In 2019, Trump started the Remain in Mexico program to end asylum fraud and “Catch and Release”, a practice where illegal aliens and border crossers are briefly detained before being released into the U.S. interior, while they wait for their asylum hearings.
This program required border crossers and illegal immigrants to wait in Mexico to receive their asylum hearings in America after they arrived at the southern border. It was to ensure that they weren’t simply released into American communities in the hope they would turn up for their hearings.
After the Supreme Court and a lower Court ruled that the Biden administration could terminate Remain in Mexico (Remain), DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced the agency would continue with plans to end the program.
DHS releases that “Individuals will no longer be newly enrolled in [Remain Mexico] and individuals who are currently in [Remain Mexico] in Mexico will have their next scheduled court date.”
Despite its success, Biden has decided to end the program.
According to the latest data, less than 740 of the 45,000 Remain in Mexico cases that were adjudicated between 2019 and 2020 have been determined to have valid asylum claims.
This means that only 1.6% of the Remain in Mexico migrants are able to file valid asylum claims and remain in the U.S. More than 71% of migrants have been deported for not proving they have valid asylum claims. More than 23 percent of migrants also terminated their asylum proceedings.
Mayorkas insists that Remain in Mexico has “endemic flaws”, imposes unjustifiable personal costs and takes resources away from other priority efforts to protect our border.
Even though Biden’s officials warned that ending Remain in Mexico would encourage more illegal immigration to the southern border, it is now official.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Biden’s National Security Council officials stated that they were concerned about the possibility that more people would cross the border illegally …”.
