The "Remain in Mexico" policy, officially known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), was introduced by President-elect Donald Trump during his first term back in January 2019. The policy forced non-Mexican asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for months or years while their claims for asylum were processed in U.S. immigration courts.
The policy, according to NGOs such as Human Rights Watch, exposed migrants to risks, including kidnapping, extortion, and violence, while limiting access to legal counsel and essential services. HRW also reported that the policy compounded existing failings in US immigration courts, including "a lack of access to counsel, barriers to legal representation, lack of transparency in immigration proceedings, and limited legal protections for asylum seekers."
