It is Time to End Migrant Protection Protocols

Floor Speech

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Ms. ESCOBAR. Mr. Speaker, today marks the 1-year anniversary of the implementation of the abhorrent Migrant Protection Protocol program, or MPP, which forces vulnerable asylum seekers to remain in Mexico for their U.S. court dates.

MPP is currently implemented at seven ports of entry along the U.S.- Mexico border, including in my community, El Paso, Texas, where over 18,000 asylum seekers have been made to wait in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua.

During my time in Congress, I have brought a number of my colleagues to the border to see our Nation's immigration challenges firsthand. A number of them joined me last July, when we crossed the border to visit with some of the families impacted by the program. We heard about their journey to the U.S., the dangers they face if they return home, and what it takes to survive day-to-day in Mexico, a country that is not their own. We heard that obtaining legal counsel is nearly impossible, hindering due process.

This administration is making it as hard as possible for these families to obtain asylum in an effort to deter them from coming to the U.S. in the first place, because cruelty is the point.

I urge my colleagues to cosponsor H.R. 2662, the Asylum Seeker Protection Act, to defund this unlawful, abhorrent program.

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