U.S. to speed processing of vulnerable migrants trapped in Mexico

Jacobson added that the administration was creating a system to process people "in a much more rapid manner than in the past." She said all the migrants waiting in Mexico under the Trump-era program, officially known as Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), will have an opportunity to present asylum claims.

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration is considering how best to accelerate and prioritize the processing of migrants trapped in Mexico under restrictions imposed by former President Donald Trump, a senior aide said on Friday.

"We're reviewing now how we can process the migrants who are already in this program....how to prioritize the people who were enrolled not only months but years ago, and above all, people who are the most vulnerable," said the aide, Roberta Jacobson, on a call with reporters. Jacobson added that the administration was creating a system to process people "in a much more rapid manner than in the past."

She said all the migrants waiting in Mexico under the Trump-era program, officially known as Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), will have an opportunity to present asylum claims. The protocols, put in place under former President Donald Trump, pushed back more than 65,000 asylum seekers into Mexico since 2019 to wait for their U.S. court hearings. Advocates have documented the dangers they face while waiting, including rape and murder.

Jacobson cautioned migrants in MPP not to rush to the U.S. border, saying it would not affect how quickly their claims could be heard. "Please, wait," she said.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security suspended new enrollments in the protocol after Biden took office. The administration had not previously outlined how it will process claims of those already enrolled. In a makeshift refugee camp in the Mexican border city of Matamoros, across the river from Brownsville, Texas, asylum seekers welcomed Jacobson's comments.

"It's good news, because she says that we should wait and that we're a priority," said Honduran asylum seeker Oscar Borjas. He estimated that up to 800 people, including women and children, were living in the sprawling camp near the border, which sprung up after the Remain in Mexico program was implemented.