The Quaker conscience of FCNL calls on us to seek a world in which the United States’ policies promote and respect the rights, safety, humanity, and dignity of all immigrant communities. Many roadblocks frustrate that vision, but we boldly work towards that reality.
On June 30, the Supreme Court brought us one step closer to a world that honors migration justice. The court cleared the path for the Biden administration to terminate the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), also known as the “Remain in Mexico” program. The administration previously tried twice to end the policy, but faced setbacks in lower courts.
Countless communities have escaped violence, torture, and instability in their home countries only to find it at the U.S. border.
Since the Trump administration created Remain in Mexico in 2019, thousands of asylum seekers and migrants could not reside in the United States while they waited for their immigration court hearings. Instead, Remain in Mexico forced more than 70,000 individuals and families seeking refuge in the United States to face indefinite limbo and stay in extremely dangerous makeshift camps in Mexico.
The policy accompanied a slew of hostile, anti-immigrant initiatives from the Trump administration, including family separation, border restrictions on asylum during the pandemic, and attempted repeals on protections for undocumented communities.
Remain in Mexico is a human rights violation. Countless communities have escaped violence, torture, and instability in their home countries only to find it at the U.S. border. The atrocities continue in Mexico. Migrating groups have endured unsafe conditions in Mexico, including robbery, kidnapping, rape, other forms of assault, and in some cases death. Unsurprisingly, the travesties of Remain in Mexico threatened the Mexican government’s willingness to continue facilitating the program.
It’s time for this abusive Trump-era policy to end.
At FCNL, we are convinced “that security for some [cannot] be achieved through means that use or result in violence and insecurity for others.” Otherwise, we undermine our own humanity as we passively witness institutional acts of violence persist in the name of security, order, and rule of law.
We call on the administration to complete the process to swiftly end Remain in Mexico and all the pain it causes.
Migration policies should account for the wellbeing of individuals regardless of their status. The United States must reorient its migration policies to prioritize safe, humanitarian practices, due process, and basic needs—including education access, health care, food, water, shelter, and trauma-informed care to individuals surviving unfathomable horror.
We must resist the growing and shameful narrative that vulnerable communities are a threat to the nation’s security. With this ruling from the Supreme Court in hand, the Biden administration can now take a necessary step towards humane border reception. We call on the administration to complete the process to swiftly end Remain in Mexico and all the pain it causes.
