Women’s Refugee Commission Responds to the Department of Homeland Security’s Action to Return Asylum-Seekers to Mexico

Washington, D.C.—Today, Customs and Border Protection officers will begin returning asylum-seekers at the San Ysidro port of entry to Mexico. The “Remain in Mexico Plan” was first publicized in December 2018 when Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen announced that the United States would begin the process of invoking 235(b)(2)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, and require asylum-seekers at the US-Mexico border to wait in Mexico while their asylum cases are processed.

Michelle Brané, director of the Migrant Rights and Justice program at the Women’s Refugee Commission, released the following statement regarding DHS’s most recent action concerning asylum-seekers:

 “Today’s action by the Trump administration to send asylum-seekers back to Mexico is disgraceful and will result in the loss of life for vulnerable people seeking safety. We know that several children have died waiting to cross the border, and that asylum-seekers waiting in Mexico are often living in squalid, dangerous conditions. Sending asylum-seekers back to Mexico, into potential danger, and across the border from attorneys who can represent them in immigration court puts families and vulnerable asylum-seekers at risk and denies them due process.

“Implementing this policy is a clear violation of US and international law, and many questions remain unanswered. In yet another example of the Trump administration’s attacks on women, children, and vulnerable populations, they continue to abuse basic human rights by denying access to protection for asylum-seekers, including unaccompanied children, who are forced to wait in dangerous and vulnerable situations along Mexico’s northern border with the hope of being processed for asylum in the United States. Make no mistake, this is part and parcel of the Trump administration’s calculated plan to create chaos at the border in order to achieve its larger goal of deterring families seeking safety at our border. It’s inhumane, it’s shameful, and it’s illegal. This administration has, once again, chosen to endanger women and children to advance its own agenda and policies that are rooted in blatant lies.”

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