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Featured Issue: Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP)

AILA Doc. No. 19091660 | Dated November 24, 2021

Current State of Play

November 18, 2021 - The Biden administration continues to file its court-ordered monthly compliance reports on steps it is taking to re-implement the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP). As previously stated, Mexico has yet to agree to accept MPP individuals and that the program’s re-implementation is contingent on Mexico’s cooperation. However, in the latest report, the administration reports that there is only “one set of outstanding issues” that must be resolved before Mexico will acquiesce. Earlier, AILA sent a letter to the administration reminding them of the multiple due process and access to counsel failures inherent in MPP and urged the immediate issuance of a new program termination memo. A new memo was issued on October 29, 2021, but the administration has taken the position that it does not relieve them of the court’s injunction requiring the re-implementation.

Background

Two years after the Migrant Protection Protocols first began, new enrollments into this border processing program officially ended on January 20, 2021. Over this period, thousands of individuals arriving at the U.S. southern border seeking protection were forced to remain in Mexico pending their U.S. immigration court hearings.

MPP or "Remain in Mexico" dramatically altered the processing of asylum claims at the U.S. southern border and made it far more difficult for asylum seekers to receive a fair and meaningful review of their claims. In September 2019, DHS opened massive temporary tent facilities in Laredo and Brownsville, Texas, that functioned as virtual immigration courtrooms for vulnerable asylum seekers subject to MPP. AILA covered the numerous due process and access to counsel violations while these “tent courts” operated in Eyes on the Border but Shut out of the Tent Courts. Documents obtained via Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation confirm that the true intent of MPP was to discourage migration and how the Trump administration worked to limit access to MPP Tent Courts for attorneys, witnesses, the media and the public.

On March 23, 2020 – in response to the COVID-19 pandemic – DHS and EOIR suspended all MPP hearings. The implementation of the suspension was chaotic and confusing, leading some people to travel to ports of entry only to be turned away and others to miss the opportunity to get their notices of rescheduled hearings.

Next, on February 11, 2021, DHS announced the beginning of the process to unwind MPP. In this initial phase, individuals in Mexico with active cases were permitted register online or by phone with the UNHCR and paroled into the U.S. at a port of entry. AILA called on DHS to expand processing to additional people who were subjected to MPP given the significant due process and fairness concerns surrounding the whole program.

Finally, on June 23, 2021, DHS expanded eligibility for processing into the U.S. to people in Mexico with in absentia orders of removal or whose cases were terminated. Notably, former MPP individuals who fled to safety in the U.S. and those who were forced to return to their home countries are permitted to register. However, DHS has not indicated how they will proceed with these categories of people and cases. Unfortunately, the June expansion does not protect people who were ordered removed following a final hearing in the tent MPP “courts.”

Contents

Resources on MPP Processing and Former MPP Individuals
Government Announcements and Policies
Information on Former MPP Hearings and Tent Courts
Litigation
Select Congressional Oversight Efforts
AILA Statements

Resources on MPP Processing and Former MPP Individuals

Prior to a district court injunction that paused the program’s termination, several thousand individuals who had been forced to remain in Mexico under the Migration Protection Protocols (MPP) have been screened for COVID-19, processed, and their cases transferred to U.S. immigration courts.