For Immediate Release
Contact: Anabel Mendoza | anabel@unitedwedream.org
Washington, D.C. – The Biden administration announced plans to restart and expand the cruel and inhumane Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) or “Remain in Mexico” policy as early as this week. The announcement follows the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) issuance of a new memo ending MPP back in October.
Prior to this announcement, President Biden has repeatedly recognized MPP as ‘inhumane and dangerous’, and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has acknowledged MPP’s severe flaws are “endemic” and fundamental to its design.
Juliana Macedo do Nascimento, Senior Advocacy Manager of United We Dream, said:
“Let me be clear, you can’t make a racist, inhumane policy created by Stephen Miller and other white supremacists humane. There is no lawful, safe or humane way to carry out a policy that has resulted in thousands of cases of human rights abuses, including murder, rape, kidnapping, torture, and other violent assaults. These are the abuses that the Biden administration is not only choosing to continue but to expand.
‘Remain in Mexico’ was designed to deprive migrants, especially Black and brown migrants, of their right to seek asylum. At the start of the Biden administration, immigrant youth organized to ensure President Biden used his executive authority to fully end Trump’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy. The Biden administration’s choice to not only restart but expand MPP to disproportionately affect Black immigrants is an intentional decision to allow white supremacy and anti-Black violence to continue to be the bedrock of this country’s immigration system. The Biden administration has an obligation to honor its promises to immediately end MPP, restore asylum with dignity, and deliver a pathway to citizenship for millions now!”
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United We Dream is the largest immigrant youth-led organization in the nation, a powerful network made up of over 400,000 members and 48 affiliate organizations across 26 states. UWD’s vision is to build a multi-racial, multi-ethnic movement of young people who organize and advocate at the local and national levels for the dignity and justice of immigrants and communities of color in the United States.