U.S.-bound asylum seekers will be sent back to at least two additional Mexican border cities later this week to wait for their claims to be processed, officials said, with one of the cities in a region that is among Mexico’s most chaotic and violent.
The policy known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), or Remain in Mexico, will be implemented later this week in Nuevo Laredo in the northern state of Tamaulipas, which borders Texas, said two Mexican officials with knowledge of the matter, who declined to be identified.
Tamaulipas is home to the Gulf and Zeta cartels that include people-smuggling and kidnapping among their criminal activities.
One of the Mexican officials said the policy would also be expanded to San Luis Rio Colorado in the northern state of Sonora, which borders Arizona. Mexican newspaper Reforma reported immigration official Julio César Navarro Contreras as saying San Luis Rio Colorado was on the list.
The latest expansion follows high-stakes negotiations to fend off trade tariffs.
NBC News Buries Background of Latest Trans Mass Shooting Suspect – He ‘Also Went by the First Name Roberta’
Obama dragged for ‘headache’-inducing presidential center update that has visitors squinting
Minnesota Democrats demand reparations from ICE after losing $18 billion to Somali fraud
Dems Try to Cancel Republican Congressman After He Declares Americans Will Not Give Up Dogs to Appease NYC’s Muslims
Hamas dismisses Israel threat to ‘complete the mission’ if terrorist group doesn’t disarm
Mainstream liberals join Soros in bankrolling group backing DC jury nullification effort
Trump hammers AOC Munich stumbles as ‘not a good look for the United States’
Election integrity groups press Supreme Court to require ballots by Election Day
Alert: Hillary Just Signaled a Massive Narrative Change on Immigration – Remember How They Tried to Steal ‘No Tax on Tips’ From Trump? They’re About to Try the Same Move Again
BREAKING: Trans Bombshell in Hockey Shooting – Murderer Robert Dorgan Went by ‘Roberta,’ – This as Reports Killer Wore Women’s Clothing Already Circulating
Georgia father on trial, accused of giving son rifle before school shooting
Rhode Island ice rink shooting suspect’s gender identity was source of past family conflict: docs
House Dem’s graphic chicken decapitation ‘horrified’ her college roommates: ‘Blood went everywhere’
What Republicans do, and don’t, want to hear from Trump at State of the Union
Cruz calls Newsom ‘historically illiterate,’ posts clown emoji after governor fires back
U.S. President Donald Trump had threatened the tariffs to push Mexico to do more to stop migrants from Central America and beyond from reaching U.S. soil, after a sharp spike in numbers this year.
As part of the deal struck earlier this month to remove the tariff threat, Mexico agreed for MPP to apply to the whole length of the border, but capacity issues on both sides have slowed implementation.
Under the deal, Mexico has also deployed a new militarized National Guard police force to detain migrants near the country’s northern and southern borders.
MPP started in January and is already functioning in Mexicali and Tijuana in Baja California, which borders California, and Ciudad Juarez in Chihuahua, which borders New Mexico and Texas.
NBC News Buries Background of Latest Trans Mass Shooting Suspect – He ‘Also Went by the First Name Roberta’
Obama dragged for ‘headache’-inducing presidential center update that has visitors squinting
Minnesota Democrats demand reparations from ICE after losing $18 billion to Somali fraud
Dems Try to Cancel Republican Congressman After He Declares Americans Will Not Give Up Dogs to Appease NYC’s Muslims
Hamas dismisses Israel threat to ‘complete the mission’ if terrorist group doesn’t disarm
Mainstream liberals join Soros in bankrolling group backing DC jury nullification effort
Trump hammers AOC Munich stumbles as ‘not a good look for the United States’
Election integrity groups press Supreme Court to require ballots by Election Day
Alert: Hillary Just Signaled a Massive Narrative Change on Immigration – Remember How They Tried to Steal ‘No Tax on Tips’ From Trump? They’re About to Try the Same Move Again
BREAKING: Trans Bombshell in Hockey Shooting – Murderer Robert Dorgan Went by ‘Roberta,’ – This as Reports Killer Wore Women’s Clothing Already Circulating
Georgia father on trial, accused of giving son rifle before school shooting
Rhode Island ice rink shooting suspect’s gender identity was source of past family conflict: docs
House Dem’s graphic chicken decapitation ‘horrified’ her college roommates: ‘Blood went everywhere’
What Republicans do, and don’t, want to hear from Trump at State of the Union
Cruz calls Newsom ‘historically illiterate,’ posts clown emoji after governor fires back
Since the tariff deal, MPP has been applied to more nationalities, including Cubans, and the number of people being returned has been increased to 500 from 100 a day in Juarez.
A representative for Mexico’s national institute for migration said it had received no official confirmation for when and how the policy would be further expanded.
A U.S. Department of Homeland Security official said the department “was not in a position to confirm new locations.”
Rights groups have sued the Trump administration over the policy, which they argue leaves vulnerable people facing dangers in Mexican border towns similar to those they fled in their home countries.
In April, a federal judge in California ruled MPP likely violated U.S. immigration law. In May, however, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the program to continue while the legal challenge proceeds.
VIOLENCE
Tamaulipas suffers from high levels of killings and kidnapping, as powerful gangs battle over drug and people-smuggling routes.
The eastern part of the state, bordering the Texas cities of McAllen and Brownsville, is the busiest crossing for families and individuals from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador and is also considered the most dangerous.
Nuevo Laredo, however, sees relatively low traffic of families seeking asylum, U.S. Customs and Border Protection figures show.
NBC News Buries Background of Latest Trans Mass Shooting Suspect – He ‘Also Went by the First Name Roberta’
Obama dragged for ‘headache’-inducing presidential center update that has visitors squinting
Minnesota Democrats demand reparations from ICE after losing $18 billion to Somali fraud
Dems Try to Cancel Republican Congressman After He Declares Americans Will Not Give Up Dogs to Appease NYC’s Muslims
Hamas dismisses Israel threat to ‘complete the mission’ if terrorist group doesn’t disarm
Mainstream liberals join Soros in bankrolling group backing DC jury nullification effort
Trump hammers AOC Munich stumbles as ‘not a good look for the United States’
Election integrity groups press Supreme Court to require ballots by Election Day
Alert: Hillary Just Signaled a Massive Narrative Change on Immigration – Remember How They Tried to Steal ‘No Tax on Tips’ From Trump? They’re About to Try the Same Move Again
BREAKING: Trans Bombshell in Hockey Shooting – Murderer Robert Dorgan Went by ‘Roberta,’ – This as Reports Killer Wore Women’s Clothing Already Circulating
Georgia father on trial, accused of giving son rifle before school shooting
Rhode Island ice rink shooting suspect’s gender identity was source of past family conflict: docs
House Dem’s graphic chicken decapitation ‘horrified’ her college roommates: ‘Blood went everywhere’
What Republicans do, and don’t, want to hear from Trump at State of the Union
Cruz calls Newsom ‘historically illiterate,’ posts clown emoji after governor fires back
Other officials with knowledge of the talks between Mexico and the United States say the towns of Nogales and Brownsville-Matamoros have been mentioned in discussions.
Remain in Mexico is aimed at dissuading asylum seekers from applying for refuge in the United States. The Trump administration says many claims are false, and that claimants will desist once they realize they must stay in Mexico for extended periods.
Since it was implemented, nearly 14,000 asylum seekers have been sent to Mexico under the program.
Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz in Mexico City; Additional reporting by Kristina Cooke in San Francisco, Jose Luis Cabezas in Rio Bravo and Dave Graham in Mexico City; Writing by Stefanie Eschenbacher; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Phil Berlowitz.
Story cited here.
