(NewsNation) — Less than a week before President-elect Donald Trump is set to enter the White House for his second non-consecutive term, senate lawmakers are hosting a hearing about his controversial ‘Remain in Mexico’ immigration policy.
During his first term, Trump implemented the policy, also called “Migration Protection Protocols,” which required asylum seekers to stay in Mexico until their claims were processed. Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration ended it in 2022.
In the 2024 election, Trump said he plans to reinstate ‘Remain in Mexico,’ and start other hard-line immigration measures such as mass deportations.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, the Republican chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, also said he will immediately take up the matter.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing is set to start at 9 a.m. ET.
Those testifying include Kenneth Cuccinelli, a former senior official in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Andrew Arthur, a resident fellow in law and policy at the Center for Immigration Studies and Adam Isacson, director of defense oversight for The Washington Office on Latin America.
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Lutheran Social Services, an immigration relief and refugee welcome agency, in a statement ahead of the hearing, criticized ‘Remain in Mexico’ as a stark departure from longstanding U.S. asylum procedures and protections.
When it was in effect, “families and individuals faced dangerous and unsafe conditions, including violence, exploitation, and inadequate essential services like healthcare, education, and housing” in northern Mexico, Lutheran Social Services said.
The American Civil Liberties Union challenged ‘Remain in Mexico,’ saying it left “vulnerable asylum seekers stranded.”
“The Migration Protection Protocols (MPP) policy was one of the most abusive and egregious of President Trump’s attacks on the asylum system, exposing vulnerable people to violence and murder,” the ACLU said in a statement to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. “The policy was a boon to organized crime in Mexico and inflicted horrendous and lasting harm on asylum seekers, including their minor children.”
NewsNation digital producer Ashley Soriano contributed to this report.
