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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Dec 3, 2021
CONTACT: Kelsey Parsons | (347) 527-0969 | kelsey@communicationsshop.us
Elyssa Pachico | +1 503 347 23 29 | press@alianzaamericas.org
The Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” program — which forced over 70,000 asylum seekers to wait for their immigration court hearings in unsafe Mexico border towns — will restart on December 6. Under this expanded version of the program, anyone who’s fled a country in the Western Hemisphere, including Haiti, will be required to wait for their U.S. immigration court dates in Mexico. In response, Alianza Americas and Presente.org released the following statement:
“The decision to resume the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), also known as Remain in Mexico, represents the continuity of a cruel policy first enacted by the Trump administration with the clear intent to end U.S. asylum law, and to continue to ignore international humanitarian protection standards,” said Oscar Chacón, Alianza Americas’ executive director. “The resumption of this program also represents a serious step backwards in the promise by the Biden administration to focus on the factors triggering the increase in forced migration from Mexico and Central American nations over the past year. Immigrants, asylum seekers, and refugees have been a blessing to the U.S. Our laws and practices should reflect this fact, instead of echoing white supremacist and extreme xenophobic lies,” said Chacón.
“Remain in Mexico could have and should have ended on Biden’s first day in office. Instead of guaranteeing protection and care to asylum seekers, as the U.S. is legally obligated to do, the Biden administration is actively choosing to use cruelty to supposedly ‘deter’ those who had no choice in fleeing for their lives. President Biden must use its executive power to terminate MPP to truly protect asylum seekers and rebuild our asylum system so it protects the human rights of those seeking safety and a better life. We are selling out our humanity and values as a nation for the sake of Biden scoring ostensible political points on border issues,” said Nancy Treviño, Alianza Americas’ associate director for network power.
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Alianza Americas is the premier transnational advocacy network of Latin American migrant-led organizations working in the United States, across the Americas, and globally to create an inclusive, equitable and sustainable way of life for communities across North, Central and South America.
Presente.org is the nation’s largest online Latinx organizing group — and the nation’s premier Latinx digital organizing hub — advancing social justice with technology, media, and culture. Presente is now a project of Alianza Americas.
