3/21/20

By Josh Rubin

From WAPO. In other words, MPP is back in place for Northern Triangle, but perhaps without any of the legal window dressing.

But, Mexico insists, US has to keep the unaccompanied kids, and anyone who is sick.

2:49 p.m.
Mexico to begin taking back Central American deportees as emergency border crackdown takes effect

The Mexican government is taking the “unprecedented” step of taking back Central American migrants as part of a rapid-deportation agreement that went into effect at midnight, two U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said Saturday.

Under the terms of the accord, Mexico will accept deportees from the Northern Triangle countries — Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador — as long as they are adults in good health, the officials said.

U.S. Border Patrol agents have already begun setting up “field processing” tents where migrants will be screened and recorded without being held in border stations, said one CBP official who was not authorized to publicly discuss the new arrangement. Migrants with outstanding warrants or other criminal charges will be held, but most others will be immediately handed over to Mexican authorities at official ports of entry.

Border-crossers from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador account for the vast majority of those taken into custody along the U.S. southern border each month, so the agreement will allow U.S. authorities to quickly deport those groups and minimize the number of immigration detainees in U.S. custody. Last month U.S. authorities detained about 37,000 migrants along the Mexico border.

Mexico will not take back unaccompanied minors and migrants in poor health, said another CBP official who was not authorized to speak publicly. Asylum seekers can be returned under the existing Migrant Protection Protocol agreement, but a health emergency declared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has given U.S. authorities broad authority to deny access to U.S. immigration courts.

Mexico will not accept migrants from other nations caught entering the country illegally, the two U.S. officials said, so migrants from nations like Cuba, Haiti and China will be held in U.S. detention and placed on deportation flights.

U.S. and Mexican officials announced new restrictions Friday limiting legal crossings along the world’s busiest land border to “essential travel” only. The measures do not apply to commerce, trade or students crossing back and forth.