Reimposition of 'Remain in Mexico' Migrant Protection Protocols

What Happened

On January 21, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security reinstated the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), commonly known as "Remain in Mexico," for the third time. The policy forces asylum seekers who arrive at the US southern border to return to Mexico and wait there while their immigration cases are processed in US courts.

This reimposition sends asylum seekers back to some of the most dangerous cities in the Western Hemisphere. Tamaulipas state -- where major border cities like Matamoros, Reynosa, and Nuevo Laredo are located -- carries a US State Department Level 4 "Do Not Travel" advisory due to crime and kidnapping. The State Department's own guidance tells Americans not to travel to the same cities where the US government forces asylum seekers to wait.

Documented Dangers

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has extensively documented the consequences of the Remain in Mexico policy. During its first implementation from 2019 to 2021, MSF found:

• In Nuevo Laredo, 75% of MSF patients who were returned under MPP had been kidnapped while waiting in Mexico.
• Asylum seekers faced kidnapping, extortion, armed robbery, and sexual violence at rates far exceeding the already-dangerous baseline for Mexican border regions.
• From October 2023 to January 2024, MSF teams in Reynosa and Matamoros alone provided care to 129 people who had been kidnapped and later released.
• More than 71,000 asylum seekers were returned to face these conditions during the policy's first period of implementation.

MSF has called the policy a direct contributor to the physical and mental health crises among asylum seekers, documenting severe trauma, PTSD, and physical injuries resulting from the violence they face while waiting.

Access to Due Process

The policy creates insurmountable barriers to asylum claims. Asylum seekers returned to Mexico face:

• No access to legal representation: Attorneys cannot easily reach clients in dangerous Mexican border cities, and many cannot travel to the US for hearings.
• Inability to gather evidence: Asylum seekers cannot compile documentation for their cases while surviving day-to-day in unfamiliar, dangerous environments.
• Fear of appearing in court: Kidnapping and extortion make regular court attendance extremely dangerous.
• Language barriers: Non-Spanish-speaking asylum seekers from Africa, Asia, and elsewhere face compounded difficulties in Mexico.

International Law Analysis

Non-refoulement: Article 33 of the Refugee Convention prohibits returning refugees to territories where their life or freedom is threatened. Returning asylum seekers to cities where documented kidnapping rates reach 75% constitutes constructive refoulement.

Convention Against Torture: Sending asylum seekers to environments where they face documented risks of kidnapping, sexual violence, and extortion violates Article 3's prohibition on transferring persons to states where they face torture or cruel treatment.

Right to a fair hearing: The ICCPR Article 14 guarantees the right to a fair hearing. The practical impossibility of preparing and presenting asylum claims from dangerous Mexican border cities renders hearings meaningless.

Why This Entry Is Rated Severe

• Documented mass harm: MSF data shows kidnapping rates up to 75% among those returned under MPP
• State Department contradiction: The US government forces asylum seekers to wait in cities its own State Department tells Americans to avoid at all costs
• Constructive refoulement: Returning asylum seekers to conditions of extreme danger violates the core principle of international refugee protection
• Destruction of due process: The practical impossibility of preparing claims from dangerous border cities denies meaningful access to the asylum process
• Scale: Over 71,000 returned during the first implementation; current numbers are accumulating