Today, U.S. Rep. Randy Weber (TX-14) introduced legislation to reinstate the Migrant Protection Protocols. This legislation will require those seeking asylum at the Southern border or without proper documentation to return to Mexico to wait for their immigration proceedings. It also sets a robust standard for asylum eligibility, ensuring that the process is reserved for those with genuine humanitarian needs and preventing its misuse for ulterior motives.

“The asylum process should be reserved for those who genuinely need it and not be used as a hamfisted workaround that allows the Biden Administration to sidestep our nation's sovereignty,” said Rep. Weber. “President Biden, Secretary Mayorkas, and the rest of the Biden Administration have profoundly neglected their duty to secure our nation’s border. To put that in perspective, prior to Joe Biden taking office, the total estimated population of illegal aliens living in America was 10-12 million—meaning that we have almost doubled the illegal population in less than three years. Implementing this bill is necessary and a commonsense measure to mitigate and decrease illegal border crossings, enabling our great Border Patrol to patrol and secure our border."

Read the bill here. 

BACKGROUND

In January 2019, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched the hugely successful Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), which ended the failed policies of catch and release and restored the orderly processing of illegal immigrants. Upon arriving at the border, migrants were given a Notice to Appear for an immigration court hearing at a later date and returned to Mexico. While migrants awaited their hearing, Mexico agreed to provide humanitarian aid under the U.S.-Mexico Joint Declaration and Supplementary Agreement. President Biden backtracked on these treaty obligations when he suspended the program on January 21, 2021. Biden's policy reversal quickly spiraled into the current border crisis.