WYOMING — On May 10, U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) joined Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) to introduce the “Migrant Protection Protocols Mandatory Act” to reinstate the Migrants Protection Protocols (MPP), better known as the Remain in Mexico program, in an attempt to slow the flow of illegal immigration from Mexico to the U.S. as Title 42 expires.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) instituted the MPP in January 2019, aiming to return those from Mexico seeking admission illegally or without proper documentation back to their country to wait for their immigration proceedings.
On June 1, 2021, the DHS announced that the MPP program would be terminated at the direction of President Biden, although the Biden Administration reinstated the MPP in December 2021 at the order of a Texas federal court. In August 2022, a federal court then cleared the path for the Biden administration to end the Migrant Protection Protocols again.
Title 42, a public health order that authorized the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to suspend entry of individuals into the U.S. to protect public health during the COVID-19 pandemic, ends today, May 11.
According to a press release from Senator Lummis’ office, the end of Title 42 is expected to bring thousands of migrants who are currently waiting at the Mexico/U.S. border into the country illegally. The new bill aims to immediately address the crisis at the southwest border that Lummis claims has turned Wyoming into a de facto border state.
“The crisis at our southwest border is impacting every state including Wyoming and will only worsen this week when Title 42 is lifted,” Lummis said. “With illegal border crossings reaching record highs, we need solutions to stop the flow of illegal immigration at the border, which is why I’m joining my colleague Sen. Blackburn in introducing this commonsense legislation that will end catch and release. This is an important first step in getting the crisis at the border under control.”
However, according to the American Immigration Council (AIC), the MPP program did not provide due process to migrants and resulted in family separation at the discretion of individual CBP officers or Border Patrol agents. The AIC says the MPP also put many people seeking asylum at risk by forcing them back to Mexico, despite Mexico’s agreement to provide humanitarian aid under the U.S.-Mexico Joint Declaration and Supplementary Agreement.
“The lack of counsel, combined with the danger and insecurity that individuals face in border towns, made it nearly impossible for anyone subject to MPP to successfully win asylum,” says the AIC. “According to Human Rights First, through February 2021 there were at least 1,544 publicly documented cases of rape, kidnapping, assault and other crimes committed against individuals sent back under MPP.”
There are currently more than 2.1 million pending immigration cases in the U.S., the Lummis press release states.
