Sen. Blackburn Introduces Legislation to Reinstate Trump’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ Policy

Sen. Blackburn Introduces Legislation to Reinstate Trump’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ Policy
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) speaks before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Oct. 13, 2020. (Samuel Corum/AFP via Getty Images)
Lorenz Duchamps
5/15/2021
Updated:
5/16/2021
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) introduced legislation that would reinstate former President Donald Trump’s Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) policy to curb the recent surge of illegal immigrants at the border.

The bill, called “Make the Migrant Protection Protocols Mandatory Act,” would require migrants who cross the southern border without proper documentation to remain in Mexico until their case is heard.

President Joe Biden has been facing criticism from more than a dozen Republican governors, as well as attorneys general in several U.S. states, for reversing the Trump-era policy by signing an executive order on Jan. 21, hours after his inauguration, that would “cease adding individuals into the [MPP] program.”

“President Biden’s failed immigration policies have created a crisis at our southern border,” Blackburn said in a statement obtained by Fox News.

“Over half a million illegal aliens have poured across our southern border since Biden decided to repeal President Trump’s successful policy that forced migrants to remain in Mexico while seeking asylum,” she said. “My legislation will stop Biden’s decision to catch and release migrants into our communities and reinstate President Trump’s Remain in Mexico program.”

Families of migrants registered under the Migrant Protection Protocols cross into the United States accompanied by staff from the United Nations International Organization for Migration, through the Paso del Norte-Santa Fe international bridge in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, Mexico, on Feb. 26, 2021. (Herika Martinez/AFP via Getty Images)
Families of migrants registered under the Migrant Protection Protocols cross into the United States accompanied by staff from the United Nations International Organization for Migration, through the Paso del Norte-Santa Fe international bridge in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, Mexico, on Feb. 26, 2021. (Herika Martinez/AFP via Getty Images)

Blackburn’s bill would, in addition to restoring the MPP program, also tighten restrictions on asylum-seekers and mandate an end to the “catch and release” policy—a practice where illegal immigrants are released while they await their immigration court hearings.

The MPP program was created by the Trump administration in January 2019 to help stem the flow of meritless asylum claims that were clogging up the system by the hundreds of thousands.

The program, commonly referred to as the “Remain in Mexico” policy, forced asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico while their cases were adjudicated. Prior to its implementation, thousands of illegal immigrants were released into the United States to await their cases, most failing to appear in court, and with illegal aliens often disappearing into the country never to be seen again.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection released operational statistics in a press release on May 11 that indicated that border agents encountered more than 178,000 illegal aliens attempting to cross the southern border last month, representing a 3 percent increase over the previous month and the highest one-month total in two decades, and an increase of more than 900 percent compared to a year earlier.
A group of illegal immigrants with Border Patrol after crossing the U.S.–Mexico border in La Joya, Texas, on April 10, 2021. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)
A group of illegal immigrants with Border Patrol after crossing the U.S.–Mexico border in La Joya, Texas, on April 10, 2021. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Blackburn is among a number of Republican lawmakers who have argued that Biden’s move to weaken or reverse Trump-era immigration policies prompted the current crisis at the southern border.

On May 11, 20 Republican governors called on Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to “take action” to deal with the crisis along the U.S.–Mexico border, as throngs of people from Mexico and Central America continue to try to illegally cross into the country.

Li Hai contributed to this report.