MEXICO CITY/EL PASO: The United States has doubled the number of asylum seekers it sends back each day to Mexico from El Paso, Texas. A Mexican immigration official said so on Friday. It is the first sign of action by Mexico following a deal struck to avert U.S. tariffs last week.
Luis Carlos Cano, a spokesman for Mexico’s national immigration agency in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, said starting Thursday some 200 asylum seekers per day were being sent back, up from 100 previously.
Under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, Mexico agreed on June 7 to expand the program, known as the Migrant Protection Protocols, or ‘Remain in Mexico,’ which forces mostly Central American asylum seekers arriving at the U.S. southern border to await the outcome of their U.S. asylum claims in Mexico.
Remain in Mexico currently in operation in Tijuana, Mexicali and Ciudad Juarez. Approximately 12,000 people have been returned to Mexico since it began in January. However, Mexico has not accepted to receive an unlimited number of asylum seekers sent by the United States, said Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard. (Agencies)
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