Biden prepares mass deportations of non-Mexican migrants to Mexico

President Joe Biden is trying to hammer out a deal with Mexico that would allow hundreds of thousands of migrants to enter the country legally, while deporting non-Mexican illegal immigrants en masse across the southern border.

The agreement would be a breakthrough for the president, who hopes to resolve the worsening border crisis before the next presidential election.

Biden previously said the nation’s inability to deport immigrants back to their home country was a primary factor in the record number of illegal crossings the United States has seen in recent months.

The new policy would see non-Mexican immigrants who cross into the US illegally deported to Mexico. The sources said the deal has not been finalized, but Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has been open to negotiations, according to the Washington Post.

The deal hinges on Biden expanding the parole process, which expedites work authorization for immigrants with sponsors in the US, which could lead to significant spikes in legal immigrants. News of the agreement comes as Title 42, the pandemic-era border policy used to expel immigrants, is set to expire this spring after being previously extended.

The Clinton administration’s top immigration official, Dois Meissner, told the Washington Post that the policy would be an unprecedented move that could be a game-changer for Biden and border security.

“I think we are in a new era and new territory,” Meissner said.

The new plan could strengthen the Department of Homeland Security police to be announced soon, with the intention of creating a ‘presumption against asylum eligibility’ and penalizing immigrants who do not enter through the proper legal permits in the US. The US or the countries they pass through to get there. .

The sources said the deportations would take place through an ‘expedited removal’ process, with Mexico accepting those expelled depending on their countries of origin.

Mexico would accept native immigrants from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Haiti and Cuba, according to the Post.

Under the plan, non-Mexican immigrants who cross into the US illegally face arrest, imprisonment, deportation to Mexico, a five-year ban from the US, and the possibility of jail time and felony charges. for a second illegal crossing.

Although Mexico has previously resisted receiving migrants expelled from the US, to avoid becoming a ‘safe third country’, President Obrador has expressed a willingness to receive migrants if Mexico can control which nations they are from.

Although Mexico has previously resisted receiving migrants expelled from the US, to avoid becoming a ‘safe third country’, President Obrador has expressed a willingness to receive migrants if Mexico can control which nations they are from.

The Biden administration has said the plan will funnel immigrants away from illegal and dangerous methods of entry, and toward safer and more controlled legal entries.

One such legal method is the parole process, through which immigrants with US sponsors can enter and travel within the country and are expedited to obtain authorization to work in the country with a two year permit.

Biden hopes to expand that parole system and use it to allow hundreds of thousands of immigrants into the country legally, according to the Post.

Critics have said the Biden administration would be abusing the parole process by using it for mass migration rather than on a case-by-case basis for which it was intended. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the extension of the probation process on January 24.

The Biden administration defended its measures, arguing that they are fundamental to the new agreement with Mexico.

“Those parole processes were critical to Mexico’s decision to begin accepting the expulsion or removal of non-citizens from those four countries who attempt to enter the United States at the southern border without using the new pathways,” the Department said. of Justice.

Mexico has not ruled on the latest events.

“There are ongoing conversations about the different scenarios given the changing legal, political and human mobility landscape,” Foreign Ministry director for North America Roberto Velasco said, according to The Post. “So far, there are no decisions on the next steps for our immigration cooperation.”

Meanwhile, the Mexican government said on Monday that it opposes a possible restart of the US immigration policy known as ‘Remain in Mexico’ that required asylum seekers to wait for US hearings in Mexico.

President Biden has sought to end the program, which had been introduced by the Trump administration and is currently suspended.

But US states such as Texas and Missouri sued to keep the program active, and in December a US judge halted Biden’s attempt, saying the Department of Homeland Security had failed to adequately explain why the policy it was ineffective and should be discarded.

The Ministry of Foreign Relations of Mexico did not indicate the reasons for its opposition. Activists argue that the policy, officially called the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), leaves migrants in dangerous border cities where they face threats of kidnapping and extortion.

If the Mexican government remains steadfast in its opposition, US officials will likely need to consider whether asylum seekers can remain in the United States while their claims are evaluated or make other arrangements to get them out of the country.

Some 74,000 migrants passed through Mexico under the program when former President Donald Trump was in power, the foreign ministry said. Under Biden, that number is just 7,500.

Marsha Espinosa, a spokeswoman for the US Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement to Reuters on Monday that the Biden Administration will continue to try to end the MPP through the courts.

“Our ability to implement MPP pursuant to a court order has always been contingent on the willingness of the government of Mexico to accept returns under MPP,” Espinosa added.