Immigration advocates are growing increasingly frustrated with the Biden administration for failing to take action after the Supreme Court last month cleared the way for it to unwind the Trump-era "Remain in Mexico" policy that forced thousands of asylum seekers to wait there for their U.S. court proceedings, Politico reported on Tuesday.
Though Department of Homeland Security officials, including Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, have publicly stated the policy will be done away with, they have not issued details of their plans, according to immigration advocates and civil society groups in regular touch with the administration.
"The bottom line is they've been saying they want to restore a meaningful asylum system. Well, now is their chance to show that they mean it," said ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project deputy director Judy Rabinovitz. "Their hands are no longer tied and as long as they're no longer tied, they should make good on that promise."
More than 110 immigrant and refugee rights groups, including the ACLU and Women's Refugee Commission, urged the Biden administration in a letter sent last week to take specific actions to unwind the policy.
"Anything less than a swift and principled end to 'Remain in Mexico' will undermine the administration's credibility; set a terrible example for other countries, including those that host the vast majority of the world's refugees; reward and embolden efforts to stop lawful administration actions; and bolster the unfounded narratives peddled by those seeking to portray people seeking protection as threats to the United States," the groups said in their letter.
The organizations also urged the Biden administration to request that the Supreme Court "expeditiously transmit" its decision to the lower court to speed up the formal end of the policy.
Several advocates said they want the administration to be more transparent with its plans for ending the "Remain in Mexico" policy and coordinate with local groups and NGOs, Politico reported.
"The most important thing is to get people to safety and out of the insecurity they face in Mexico as quickly as possible," said Katharina Obser, director of the migrant rights and justice program at the Women's Refugee Commission. "We strongly hope they will act with urgency here to ensure people can, in fact, fairly and humanely pursue their asylum claims … after they've very publicly committed to doing this."
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
© 2023 Newsmax. All rights reserved.