Three years ago, under Trump’s racist Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) policy, better known as the Remain in Mexico policy, the U.S. government began denying migrants access to our asylum system by forcing them to await processing in perilous Mexican border towns.

Two weeks after the policy was first enacted, the SPLC and our allies challenged the policy in federal court. The suit describes how the policy subjected asylum seekers to dangerous conditions that made it nearly impossible for them to prepare their cases. The SPLC and our partners later filed an additional lawsuit challenging MPP’s implementation, and the policy was ultimately terminated by DHS Secretary Mayorkas.

Last August, the Biden administration reinstated MPP after a court ruling in a lawsuit brought by the states of Texas and Missouri.

As of today, thousands of migrants and counting have been forced to wait in life-threatening conditions in Mexico with little or no access to legal counsel. Life for asylum-seekers in these border towns is dangerous, unpredictable and crowded. Many people, including women and young children, live in makeshift refugee “camps” along the border with no protection from crime or the elements, depending on charity for food and shelter.  

When Trump first implemented MPP, the SPLC warned that it would subject asylum seekers to unprecedented danger, further entrench white supremacy in our nation’s immigration system and cause chaos. It has done just that.

By last December, at least 1,544 violent crimes had been committed against such migrants, according to Human Rights First. Despite purported changes to make the policy more humane, Customs and Border Patrol has not been adequately conducting screenings to identify those with mental and physical vulnerabilities that could grant them exemption from the policy. Immigration attorneys in the U.S. are now underwater, swimming through an enormous backlog of roughly 1.3 million cases pending in the immigration courts, leaving unrepresented migrants little chance to present their claims in a timely manner.

Read more here.

As MPP continues to shatter lives and reinforce white supremacy within our immigration system, the U.S. government must contend with its failure to uphold basic human rights. In addition to assisting people already harmed by MPP, it is the U.S. government’s responsibility to restore fair, functional access to asylum at the border.

With your support, we are able to keep fighting to make the U.S. a beacon of hope for those seeking asylum from violence and hate. Thank you.