Eagle Pass Port of Entry CBP Begins Processing of Migrant Protection Protocol Immigrants
By: Ricardo E. Calderon, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2021
Eagle Pass Port of Entry CBP Director Paul del Rincon announced that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had commenced processing of Migrant Protection Protocol immigrants seeking asylum in the United States on Monday, April 19, 2021, at the Eagle Pass Port of Entry.
Del Rincon stated that a group of 25 Migrant Protection Protocol immigrants were processed on Monday, April 19, at the Eagle Pass Port of Entry. As of Thursday, April 22, a total of 73 Migrant Protection Protocol immigrants had been processed in Eagle Pass. An estimated 400 immigrants are believed to have remained in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico under the Migrant Protection Program.
According to the American Immigration Council, the Trump Administration announced the creation of a new program called the “Migrant Protection Protocols” (MPP)—often referred to as the “Remain in Mexico” program in December 2018. Under MPP, individuals who arrived at the southern border and asked for asylum, either at a port of entry or after crossing the border between ports of entry, were given notices to appear in immigration court and sent back to Mexico until their court case was called for a hearing.
In March 2020, in response to the outbreak of the COVID-19, all pending MPP hearings were suspended temporarily, and then later indefinitely. Tens of thousands of people were placed into MPP and returned to Mexico to wait until their court case was set for hearing, estimated to be between 25,000 to 70,000.
All MPP immigrants must present a negative COVID-19 test result and a medical examination upon entering the United States to be processed under the MPP.
DHS suspended new enrollment into the MPP on January 21, 2021. DHS is only processing individuals who already had applied to the MPP and returned to Mexico to be called back for their immigration court hearing.
Eagle Pass Port of Entry CBP will continue to process MPP immigrants until the estimated 400 people who returned to Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico are processed or upon further orders from DHS.
