Mexican Prez backs US as it ends controversial "Remain in Mexico" policy

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he backed the US decision to end its controversial "Remain in Mexico" policy, which forced asylum seekers of all nationalities to wait in Mexico while their cases were being processed in America.

During a press conference on Wednesday, Lopez Obrador referred to a US Supreme Court ruling in June that validated President Joe Biden's move to end the initiative, which was put in place by his predecessor Donald Trump, reports Xinhua news agency.

"Now that the court has decided that those who request asylum in the US can wait in the US... We see it as a good thing," Lopez Obrador told reporters.

"It is an internal decision of the US government. We never accepted turning ourselves into a so-called third country, a migrant camp for waiting until things are resolved in the US," he added.

Mexico and the US have been facing an unprecedented immigration crisis in recent years, as poverty and violence exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic drive tens of thousands of mostly Central American migrants north in search of work.

The number of migrants detained by the US on the border with Mexico between October 1, 2020 and September 30, 2021 reached 1,734,686, a record high.

Meanwhile, Mexico has deported more than 114,000 illegal immigrants in 2021, and detained 115,379 between January 1 and April 13 of this year alone, according to government figures.

--IANS

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