Over the last year, the administration has implemented a program it cruelly calls the "Migration Protection Protocols." Better known as Remain in Mexico, this policy requires asylum-seekers to come to the border to ask for help but then wait in Mexico until it is time to come to court in the United States. More than 55,000 migrants, including 16,000 children from all over the world, have been sent to Mexico under this policy, with the following consequences.
The Remain in Mexico Policy puts families in harm's way. Asylum-seekers forced to wait in Mexico face violence, kidnappings, and rapidly deteriorating conditions. Over the last few months, there have been widespread reports of cartel violence targeting migrants and an increasing desperation among families who lack access to shelter, clean water, sanitation, and other basic needs.
The Remain in Mexico policy tramples on migrants’ right to a fair hearing. Instead of bringing families into regular immigration courts where they can appear before a judge in person, they are sent to tent courts where they have to make their case over video, to a judge sitting as far away as New York or Los Angeles. The courts are closed to the public and lawyers and journalists have been blocked from entering them.
The government is using Remain in Mexico to separate families. Immigration officials continue to separate children from parents and family members at the border—but now, separated parents and family members are sent to Mexico while children are placed in government custody, hundreds or often thousands of miles away in the United States.
This month, we published a report explaining the danger posed by Remain in Mexico and the work of our Child Advocates who are advocating for children caught in its crosshairs. They have won victories large and small—from securing video-calls between a kindergartner in custody and his mother trapped in Mexico, to securing a family’s right to enter the United States in order to reunify with a child.
Help us fight back. Call your representative and demand that they cut funding for this inhumane program. Speak out on social media by sharing our report and our December webinar. Make a donation to support our work with immigrant children impacted by Remain in Mexico and other harmful policies implemented by this administration.
Thank you for making this work possible,
Jennifer Nagda
Policy Director
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