Nearly two dozen legal, faith-based, humanitarian, and community organizations that have assisted asylum-seekers abandoned by the Trump administration in Mexico are calling for the immediate termination of the Migrant Protection Protocols program, also known as Remain in Mexico, telling acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf in a letter, “This program is not only inhumane and dangerous, but it is also illegal.”
“We have been shocked to hear U.S. officials assert that this program is a ‘success,’ pointing to a drop in the numbers approaching the U.S. border,” the 20 groups write. “Far from being a success, this program is a humanitarian, legal and due process catastrophe. It terrorizes asylum seekers, endangers U.S.citizen attorneys, humanitarian staff, religious and volunteers pushed to cross into highly dangerous places, and ensures that many refugees eligible for asylum will be denied protection due to its many legal representation, due process, and safety deficiencies.”
Roughly 60,000 asylum-seekers have been forced to Mexico under the policy, and the groups say in the letter that advocates have struggled to assist many of them. “While some of our already overstretched and under-funded non-profit organizations have attempted to provide limited legal help to some people in MPP, DHS is essentially compelling U.S. lawyers to cross into areas of Mexico that the State Department has warned suffer from widespread homicides, kidnappings, and other violence—largely areas U.S. citizens are directed not to travel or reconsider visiting.”
A Democratic legislator described conditions at the Matamoros camp, where as many as 2,500 of these asylum-seekers are living while they wait for their immigration court dates. “There is no running water; the migrants share water from a tank,” Illinois Rep. Chuy García wrote in a post published on the website Medium. “If they get sick, and many of them do, they see a doctor in a structure the size of port-a-potty. Clothes are drying on tree branches. Tents are pitched on top of each other and there is a primitive sewage system. I hear people speaking Spanish, but I also hear indigenous languages. It seems unreal—I wish it were. This is a refugee camp—a refugee camp President Trump created.”
Not only is U.S. policy endangering the lives of already-vulnerable people, but it’s also sparked a due process nightmare, the groups said. “It should be no surprise that many asylum seekers are not appearing in immigration court. Many have told us they are afraid to travel to MPP court and fear remaining longer in areas of Mexico where they can reach their MPP hearings. Some have been kidnapped, raped or assaulted on their way to and from MPP court or only narrowly escaped such ordeals. While many have decided to abandon bonafide asylum claims and return home given the threats in Mexico, some we fear have simply disappeared or been killed.”
This week marks one year since the official implementation of this inhumane and illegal policy—and that’s a year too long. This policy must end. “Congress passed laws to ensure asylum seekers are not turned away at the border when they have credible fears of persecution. Through MPP, Trump administration and DHS officials are violating and evading U.S. asylum laws and treaties,” the groups tell Wolf. “We urge you to immediately halt this program and instead direct your officers to comply with U.S. asylum laws and treaties prohibiting return to torture and persecution.”