6/21/2019

BORDER/IMMIGRATION/MEXICO/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The United States is more than doubling the number of asylum seekers it returns to Mexico in one city and adding groups like Cubans as it rapidly expands a policy to make migrants wait out claims south of the border, Mexican and U.S. officials said. The policy, known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), is being applied to all Spanish-speaking asylum seekers, other than Mexicans, at three U.S.-Mexico border crossings, said a U.S. government official familiar with the program, who asked not to be named. The Trump administration plans to expand the program, which faces court challenges, across the border to act as a deterrent to frivolous asylum claims during a surge in Central American migrant families. A U.S. Department of Homeland Security official said the administration was considering building temporary immigration courts along the border to process MPP returnees. The MPP expansion follows Mexico’s agreement earlier this month to receive thousands more migrants under the program.”

Julio-Cesar Chavez, Andrew Hay, “U.S. ramps up returns of asylum seekers to Mexico, adding Cubans,” Reuters, June 21, 2019 12:43 pm