The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Tuesday that it is reinstating the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), effective immediately.
The MPP policy, first implemented in January 2019 under Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, allows US officials to return certain asylum applicants to neighboring countries while their removal proceedings are ongoing.
Although former DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas attempted to terminate the policy, court rulings, including Texas v. Biden in 2022, kept it in place. "The situation at the border has changed, and the facts on the ground are favorable to resuming implementation of the 2019 MPP Policy," the department said in a statement.