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The government of the Democratic president seized the high court, with a conservative majority, at the end of December to examine the decision of an appeals court which ordered the maintenance of the program called “Stay in Mexico”, implemented in 2019 by the previous administration.
Upon his arrival at the White House in January 2021, Joe Biden began to dismantle this controversial measure – officially called “Migrant Protection Protocols” (MPP) – but a court in Texas required its reinstatement in August.
The United States therefore had to partially reactivate it, in agreement with Mexico, while challenging the Texan decision before a federal appeal court, without winning.
The Supreme Court is due to consider this case in April, according to court documents seen by AFP. A decision is expected in the summer.
The PPM program does not apply to Mexicans but forces asylum seekers arriving in the United States via Mexico to stay there until their request is processed. He is widely criticized by civil rights associations.
Between January 2019 and December 2020, at least 70,000 asylum seekers — mostly from Central America — were returned to Mexico under the program, creating a humanitarian crisis exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the American Immigration Council organization.
The left wing of the Democratic Party expected Joe Biden to turn 180 degrees on immigration, after four years as a Republican under Trump devoted to locking the borders of the United States.
Migration flows, which fell sharply at the start of the pandemic, had started to increase again even before Joe Biden took office but clearly jumped afterwards.
More than two million migrants who entered the United States illegally via Mexico were arrested in 2021, according to official statistics. A record level.
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