Press Release

Washington – Earlier today, asylum advocates and legal service providers held a press briefing to decry the Biden administration’s decision to restart the Remain in Mexico program. A recording of the call is available here. 

A number of organizations discussed their participation in Saturday’s walkout during a meeting with administration officials, the letter sent to the Biden administration by 73 legal service providers, law school clinics, and law firms in response to the restart of this program, and urge the administration to do everything in its power to prevent a return to MPP. The letter was delivered to the President and Vice President, as well as Jake Sullivan of the National Security Council and Attorney General Merrick Garland Tuesday. 

“The IRC stands in solidarity with the tens of thousands of asylum-seekers who were subjected to MPP and with the organizations who have worked diligently to fight against this fatally broken and brutal policy,” Alex Miller, International Rescue Committee, Arizona said. “By restarting MPP, the Biden Administration is choosing to ignore the U.S.’s legal obligations not to return asylum-seekers to harm, aware that thousands of asylum-seekers subjected to the ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy were kidnapped, raped, and even murdered. We are disappointed to see the administration move forward in implementing a policy that is fundamentally inhumane and strips asylum-seekers of their right to due process.”

“MPP is not a legal process and it is definitely not due process,” said Charlene D’Cruz, Project Corazon- Lawyers for Good Government. “There is no version of MPP that is fair, legal, just, or humane.  The only moral and legal option is to revoke it completely, along with a complete revocation of Title 42, thereby ensuring legal asylum processes at the US – Mexico border.”

“There is no such thing as a more humane version of a program that has directly led to such extreme pain and suffering, said Margaret Cargioli, Managing Attorney of Immigrant Defenders Law Center. Reinstating the Remain in Mexico policy will directly lead to the loss of human lives. Any version of this deadly policy is fundamentally unacceptable.” 

“Migrant Protection Protocols do not protect anyone, these protocols perpetrate torture, harm, and even death. It creates an industry of trafficking and extortion that benefits from those in dire need. MPP kills from the inside out,” said Tania Guerrero of CLINIC’s Estamos Unidos Asylum Project. “Legal organizations are not the band-aid. We have gone above and beyond and have failed because the system is flawed and illegal. The U.S. Government has the choice to not reinstate MPP just like it has the choice to end Title 42. In its failure to terminate such practices, it sends a definitive message that others are simply not welcome. The Biden administration must stop this deadly course of action now. We, CLINIC, and I cannot and will not be complicit any longer.”

The Welcome with Dignity Campaign is composed of 90 national and regional organizations committed to transforming the way the United States receives and protects people forced to flee their homes to ensure they are treated humanely and fairly. To learn more and join our campaign visit: welcomewithdignity.org

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