Chicago, IL (May 3, 2023) – The Biden administration and the Mexican government announced Tuesday that they have reached a deal for Mexico to accept Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan asylum seekers forcibly returned by the U.S. government after the Title 42 mass-expulsion authority ends on May 11. This announcement followed news that the Biden administration is sending 1,500 troops to the U.S.-Mexico border in anticipation of the end of the long-condemned use of the public health emergency authority.

National Immigrant Justice Center Executive Director Mary Meg McCarthy responded with the following statement: 

“The Biden administration keeps recycling the prior administration’s anti-asylum policies while vowing to embrace humanitarian values. In one week, we will bear witness to the resurrection of yet another policy to return asylum seekers to Mexico and further militarize the southern border, despite President Biden and Vice President Harris’ strong condemnation of such policies under the prior administration. Under a previous deal, Mexico had agreed to receive expelled people from four nations that have witnessed historic levels of unrest, political instability, and displacement. We warned that their deal signaled that the administration not only sought to push back asylum seekers to Mexico while Title 42 was still in place, but to indefinitely punish people for seeking protection through mass summary deportations once that authority has expired. Now our fears are confirmed. U.S. policies returning asylum seekers to Mexico have resulted in unspeakable danger and harm, while the Mexican asylum system has consistently failed to protect people fleeing persecution. President Biden continues to abdicate his promises, and obligations under domestic and international law, to protect the right to asylum.”