Juarez City.
Migrants this Friday celebrated President Joe Biden’s government decision to dismantle it Trump-era immigration program that forced them to stay inside Mexico while his asylum application was being processed in the United States.
“With this news, our miracle is about to come out,” Nicol Bueso, one Honduran migrant 19-year-old who waited at the border for 18 months Juarez City
“It is a very great joy, because in all the time we have waited here, we have spent many ugly times,” said the woman, who was city hostel
For his part, José Madrid, a 40-year-old migrant from Honduras, thanked the Biden government for the decision.
“Life is very difficult in it Central America and we thank the president for making that decision and for helping Central America, ”said Madrid, who has been waiting in Ciudad Juárez for 20 months.
In early February, Biden ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to take action to end the controversial Migrant Protection Program (MPP) instituted by his predecessor, Donald Trump.
This agreement forced tens of thousands of asylum seekers to remain at the border pending the resolution of their case, triggering a humanitarian crisis in the area, exacerbated by the covid-19 pandemic
The NGO American Immigration Council estimates that from January 2019, when the program began to run, until December 2020, at least 70,000 people had been returned to Mexico under the MPP agreements.
This controversial program was part of Trump’s plan to fight illegal immigration, following the massive caravans of late 2018 and early 2019.
Trump had the fight against irregular immigration as one of the hallmarks of his administration throughout his presidency, including his persistent efforts to build a border wall and plans such as the “zero tolerance policy” that separated thousands of migrant families.