The so-called Remain in Mexico program for U.S. asylum-seekers expanded to another Mexican border city Tuesday. Pixabay
A spokeswoman with Mexico's immigration agency confirmed that the first group of 10 returned Tuesday. U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials did not immediately comment.
The U.S. program, known formally as the Migrant Protection Protocols, acts as a deterrent for applicants who previously were released into the U.S. with notices to appear in court.
The program was already operating in the Mexican border cities of Tijuana, Mexicali and Ciudad Juarez. More than 18,000 mostly Central American migrants had been returned to those cities through the first week in July, according Mexican officials.
Nuevo Laredo is in Tamaulipas state, which the U.S. State Department warns Americans not to visit due to kidnappings and other crimes.
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The program's expansion to Tamaulipas was announced after the U.S. and Mexico reached an agreement to avert threatened tariffs on Mexican exports last month.
The state is notorious for violent drug cartels that have controlled its border cities. But its long shared border with Texas also includes the busiest sector for U.S. Border Patrol's migrant apprehensions.
Migrant shelters in cities along Mexico's northern border have been swamped for months. Like Ascencio, migrants who want to apply for U.S. asylum wait for months to get the opportunity. The Remain in Mexico cities are even more affected because the migrants are sent back to wait for a process that could last more than a year.
At the Casa AMAR migrant shelter in Nuevo Laredo, director Aaron Mendez said there was already a "humanitarian crisis" that the shelter lacked the resources to deal with."If they could have 50 shelters here in the city it still wouldn't be enough," Mendez said. Authorities had originally said 150 to 200 migrants could be returned to Nuevo Laredo daily.