The Joe Biden administration has launched a fresh bid on
Friday to end a policy adopted under the previous Donald Trump administration
to make asylum-seekers wait in Mexico for their cases to be heard in the
immigration courts of the United States. The administration has also reaffirmed
a commitment to reinstate the policy due to a court order.

The US Secretary for Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas
said that the “Remain in Mexico” policy likely contributed to a drop
in illegal border crossings in 2019 but the results came with “substantial and unjustifiable human costs” to asylum-seekers who
were exposed to violence while waiting in Mexico.

The administration had said earlier this month that it expected
to reinstate the policy, known officially as “Migrant Protection
Protocols,” by mid-November, subject to the Mexican government’s approval.
It has been working to meet Mexico’s demands to generally conclude cases in 180
days and improve asylum seekers’ access to legal representation and case
information.

The announcement on Friday came more than two months after a
federal judge in Texas ordered that the policy be reinstated “in good
faith,” while leaving an opening for the administration to try again to
justify its move.

Some of the administration’s most prominent pro-immigration
allies say it took too long for Mayorkas to draft Friday’s opinion.

Many of the US-based legal aid groups who worked with asylum-seekers
in Mexico who were subject to the policy say they will no longer accept such
cases, raising questions about how the U.S. can satisfy Mexico’s insistence on
better access to counsel. Administration officials say they believe there are
enough other attorneys who will represent asylum-seekers sent back to Mexico.

(With AP inputs)