U.S. doubles number of migrants made to wait in Mexico

The United States government has doubled the number of asylum seekers being sent to await their cases in Mexico as part of a controversial program. The official name is the Migrant Protection Protocols, but you’ve probably heard of it as the remain in Mexico policy.

The program, which began in California in January and Juarez in April, currently has 5,100 mostly Central American migrants waiting in Mexico for what could be months and has been for some most.

The U.S. will now be sending 200 migrants into Mexico every day, double compared to the past two weeks, said Luis Carlos Cano, a spokesperson in Juarez for the Mexicoan National Migration Institute.

Attorneys who spoke to ABC-7 said they are concerned the increasing number of people being sent south of the border will face danger.

“Typically when we are helping asylum seekers and representing asylum seekers the danger they have faced is now far away,” said Linda Rivas, executive director of the Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center.

The dangers in Juarez are not necessarily the situations they are fleeing, Rivas said. Local criminal elements in Juarez many times target isolated migrants.

“I had a woman who I had met previously and when I saw her again several weeks later she had been kidnapped for ransom. Another woman, they attempted to rape her in front of her 3-year-old little boy. Two young men who had families were both kidnapped,” Rivas said.

Rivas said the migrants face dangers local residents don’t as the migrants stand out easily.

A Reuters report shows only one percent of migrants have been allowed to exit the policy and wait for their hearings in the US. Rivas said of the two people she believes exited the program after being attacked in Mexico none were the kidnapping or attempted rapes victim she mentioned. Those are still in Mexico waiting for court hearings.