The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has temporarily blocked an order that would have stopped the Trump administration’s “remain in Mexico” policy for asylum seekers while they await processing of their U.S. asylum claims. Arguments by advocates on why the policy should not be in effect are due April 16 and the government’s arguments on why it should continue are due April 17, the three-judge panel ruled. An earlier order by a judge in San Francisco was set to temporarily halt the change in U.S. asylum policy.
Kirstjen Nielsen, then-Secretary of Homeland Security, directed U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to immediately expand the “remain in Mexico” policy for asylum seekers and other migrants during a border visit in early April, 2019. She directed CBP to return hundreds of additional migrants per day above current rates to Mexico, including individuals apprehended or encountered at or between ports of entry, and to plan for further expansion of the program, called the Migrant Protection Protocols, “beyond the locations in which it currently operates in California and Texas,” according to a DHS statement. Ms. Nielsen has since left her position.
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