Media Contact: Ursela Ojeda, Women’s Refugee Commission, urselao@wrcommission.org, 202-906-0161

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Late last night, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals denied the government’s request for a stay of a decision from a Texas district court ordering the Biden Administration to restart the Trump-era Migration Protection Protocols (MPP), also known as “Remain in Mexico.”

Under MPP, tens of thousands of migrant families and adults seeking protection were sent back to dangerous conditions in Mexico to await their immigration court hearings in the U.S. There have been more than 1,500 of publicly-documented cases of violent crime, including kidnapping, extortion, rape, assault, and torture committed against individuals subjected to MPP.

In response, Ursela Ojeda, policy advisor for the Migrant Rights and Justice Program, released the following statement:

“MPP was an illegal, human rights, and due process disaster that cruelly and needlessly placed people seeking protection into harm’s way. The Biden administration was right to announce a suspension of MPP on its first day in office and to formally end the policy earlier this year. We were outraged this week to see reports that even before the Texas district court decision that the Biden administration was considering “reviving” MPP. There is no way to reinstate MPP or any future iteration of an MPP-style policy in a humane or rights-respecting way.

“We call on the Biden administration to do everything in its power to prevent the reinstatement of MPP, restore access to asylum at our border, and live up to its promise of building a humane and orderly immigration system.”

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