Asylum seekers who enter the United States illegally will now have to return to Mexico while they wait for their claims to be processed, which could take years, the Department of Homeland Security announced on Thursday. Calling the move “a historic measure,” the agency revealed the “Remain in Mexico” plan while Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was testifying before members of the House Judiciary committee. In her opening prepared remarks to lawmakers, Nielsen said the administration is preparing to implement an accord with Mexico’s new government that will allow the United States to send asylum seekers who cross illegally back to their southern neighbors, even if the migrants do not come from Mexico. “Aliens trying to game the system to get into our country illegally will no longer be able to disappear into the United States, where many skip their court dates,” Nielsen said in a press release following her opening remarks. “Instead, they will wait for an immigration court decision while they are in Mexico. ‘Catch and release’ will be replaced with ‘catch and return.’”
In a statement, Mexico’s foreign ministry said Thursday that it “will authorize, for humanitarian reasons and temporarily, the entry of certain foreign persons from the United States who have entered the country through a port of entry or who have been apprehended between ports of entry, have been interviewed by the authorities of migratory control of that country, and have received a summons to appear before an immigration judge.”
