The Migrant Protection Protocol

One of the pillars of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has been his ideal of restructuring the immigration sector in the US.

On the one hand, President Trump believes that reducing illegal immigration brings gigantic benefits to the country since it safeguards local resources and prevents undocumented foreigners from using social benefits that should be available only to legal citizens or people holding a legal residence permit.

That is why the current administration of the US has created several agreements with governments of neighboring countries to reduce illegal immigration, especially from Central America.

On the other hand, President Trump also considers that massive legal immigration can harm certain aspects of the local economic sector. For instance:

• Reduces job opportunities for legal citizens.
• Saturates the health and economic system.
• Uses essential social benefits for the local population.

Therefore, President Trump has implemented several restrictions in immigration policies (including legal immigration) in the US. Just during the health crisis caused by the Coronavirus pandemic, the President has banned the issuance of work visas and Green Card applications (permanent legal residence) until the end of the year.

One of the most recent policies is the Migrant Protection Protocol (MPP), also known as “Remain in Mexico”. This is an agreement between the governments of the US and Mexico and has been in force for more than a year now and mainly affects asylum seekers.

MPP – Brief Explanation

The MPP policy states that immigrants who arrive at the borders of the US through Mexico and want to apply for political asylum must remain in Mexico while receiving a response to their immigration requests or having a hearing with a local judge.

This policy was implemented in January 2019 and has generated a lot of controversy among immigrant communities, critics, expert attorneys and immigrant rights advocates.

In fact, immigrant rights advocates constantly complain about the conditions in which immigrants live on the borders, mainly because:

• Asylum seekers live in self-built temporary shelters and sleep in tents.
• There is no access to soap, hand sanitizer, protective masks, bathrooms in good condition or medical supplies.
• There are no medical personnel to assist immigrants in the event of a health emergency.
• They do not have food or water, they live on donations from neighboring communities and immigrant rights advocates.

Thus, the living conditions of asylum seekers under the MPP policy have unleashed countless criticisms about the Trump administration and immigration policies in recent years.

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The pandemic reaches the borders

Nowadays, with the massive outbreak of Coronavirus in Mexico, the situation at the borders is increasingly getting worse as the MPP does not provide any health protection to asylum seekers who patiently await an opportunity to present their legal immigration requests.

These temporary shelters could actually become hotbeds of the virus. Due to the fact that they are normally overcrowded, there is not enough space for the social distancing recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and that could cause a catastrophe among these immigrant communities.

If you need help with an immigration case, please feel free to contact our experienced immigration attorneys.

Learn more about Motion Law Immigration

It is essential for you to seek reliable help for your immigration application, be it work visas, family visas, deportation cases, asylum cases, inter alia. Our team of experts has helped many people in the same situation as you.

If you have any questions about an immigration issue or relating to a case you may have currently in progress, then please don’t hesitate to contact us for a FREE Phone Consultation with one of our expert immigration attorneys.

Simply call Motion Law today at: (202) 918-1799.