The Biden administration has launched a second bid to end a Trump-era policy to make asylum-seekers wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration court.
It is also reaffirming a commitment to reinstate the policy under court order. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Friday that the “Remain in Mexico” policy likely contributed to a drop in illegal border crossings in 2019 but with “substantial and unjustifiable human costs” to asylum-seekers exposed to violence while waiting in Mexico.
A federal judge has ordered that the policy be reinstated but left a door open for the administration to try again.