Senate hearing looks at revival of Trump-era Remain in Mexico policy for asylum seekers

In a hearing Thursday, lawmakers from the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Subcommittee heard arguments for and against reinstating the Remain in Mexico policy.

The immigration policy was enacted under the first Trump administration and forced roughly 70,000 asylum seekers to wait for months, sometimes years, across the border for U.S. immigration hearings.

The Biden administration tried to end the program in 2021, but a court order kept it alive for several more months and the administration expanded who it applied to. Ken Cuccinelli, an immigration official in Trump’s first administration, told lawmakers bringing it back would allow the incoming administration to more quickly adjudicate existing asylum cases, ramp up detention capacity and prepare for mass deportations.

“The real success of programs like the Remain in Mexico program is not just that they screen out fake asylum seekers, but that they help deter illegal aliens from coming in the first place,” he said.

Seeking asylum along the border is a right under U.S. law. But Adam Isacson, with the research group Washington Office on Latin America, said Remain in Mexico was one of a string of asylum crackdowns over the last decade — none of which actually deterred migration in the long run.

“These crackdowns follow the same pattern, you get an initial drop in migration, then it lasts a few months, and then there’s a rebound,” he said.

Isackson said instead, the program enriched cartels who profited off extorting migrants stuck waiting for their hearings and soured relations with Mexico.

He and Cuccinelli testified to lawmakers Thursday morning, along with Andrew Arthur, a resident fellow in law and policy at the Washington, D.C., think tank Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for lower levels of immigration.

Sen. Ruben Gallego said what’s really needed is comprehensive immigration reform.

"Congress has the sole authority and responsibility to make that happen. And we owe it to our border communities and all Americans to fix this system," Gallego said.

As for bringing back Remain in Mexico, Gallego said he wanted to see what if anything could be done to mitigate the harms caused the first time — like soured relations with Mexico and cartel violence against asylum seekers.