Washington, DC – A year of Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP)/Remain in Mexico policy. A year of forcing people to remain in Mexico, often times homeless and without any sort of assistance, while they await their day in U.S. immigration court. A year of attacks, robberies, kidnappings, rapes, and even murders—all due to a U.S. government policy. Yesterday, groups across the United States and in Mexico held demonstrations, prayer vigils, and other actions to mark this upsetting “anniversary” and demand an end to this program that endangers, rather than “protects,” migrants’ lives.
Norma Chávez-Peterson of the ACLU Foundation of San Diego & Imperial Counties and Michael Hopkins Jewish Family Service of San Diego penned a stark op-ed in the Voice of San Diego that explains: “Immigrants’ and civil rights organizations on both sides of the border knew that, despite the program’s name, people’s lives would be put in peril. What we have observed and have heard from our clients in San Diego and Tijuana in a year’s time has been worse than anything anyone could have imagined.”
They go on to describe clients forced to return to Mexico despite being beaten and robbed; a teenage mother made to travel with her one year-old baby to the San Ysidro Port of Entry in darkness for their hearing; and the barriers to legal counsel erected by MPP. The organizations have filed a class action lawsuit against the policy.
The Hope Border Institute published two new reports about the dangers of Remain in Mexico. The first documents the treatment of migrants in refugee camps, shelters, and U.S. immigration courts. The second, prepared with Stanford Law School Mills Legal Clinic, “details the human rights violations of migrants in Mexico as a result of Remain in Mexico and the failure of Mexico to guarantee the rights of migrants under the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.” Both are chilling, vital bulletins from the ground.
In a new blog post, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee describes some of the logistical nightmares MPP has created, resulting in only 11 people being granted asylum out of more than 10,000 whose cases have concluded:
On the day of their hearings, asylum-seekers under MPP must go to the border port-of-entry at 4 a.m., where they are transported to remote makeshift courts built out of tents and shipping containers. Once there, their cases are heard over video conferences by judges hundreds of miles away. These tent courts cost at least $155 million dollars in 2019. Typical immigration courts in the United States are open to the public, but these ad-hoc MPP courts do not allow witnesses, making community oversight and accountability impossible. Even worse, those who seek asylum at the Arizona border are sent to Nogales-Sonora and expected to make it to court in El Paso, Texas—more than 300 miles away.
American Friends Service Committee released a new report evaluating the program after observing 483 MPP cases in court. They describe migrants being given incorrect hearing dates and incomplete charging documents. Erroneous mailing addresses were purposely put on paperwork by the government, guaranteeing that migrants would not receive future court communications. Whole families were returned to Mexico to wait, despite expressing very real fears of being beaten, robbed, raped, and even murdered.
#Faith4Asylum prayer vigils were held in Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, and Washington, DC, as well as virtually. Vigils take place later this week in Arizona, Louisiana, Oregon.
Faith Williams, Associate Director of Government Relations and Advocacy for the National Council of Jewish Women and Co-Chair of the Interfaith Immigration Coalition, said:
A year of ‘Remain in Mexico’ has been a year of tragedy, violence, and sorrow. This U.S. government policy has put people’s lives in danger. The court process afforded these migrants is a sham. We must end this policy and restore the promise and protection of asylum to those fleeing violence, persecution, and death. I am proud of our diverse faith communities on both sides of the border for stepping up, welcoming the stranger, and being an example for the U.S. government to follow.
The Interfaith Immigration Coalition is made up of 55 national, faith-based organizations brought together across many theological traditions with a common call to seek just policies that lift up the God-given dignity of every individual. In partnership, we work to protect the rights, dignity, and safety of all refugees and migrants.
Follow us on Twitter @interfaithimm
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