News from TRAC

Now Over 8,000 MPP Cases Transferred Into United States Under Biden

(11 May 2021) As of the end of April 2021, a total of 8,387 individuals formerly forced to remain in Mexico under the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) have been able to enter the United States since President Biden ended this Trump-era program. TRAC previously reported that by the end of March 3,911 individuals had been allowed to enter the U.S. under a phased process. During April, the pace picked up so that by the end of last month entrants had increased to 8,387—more than double the previous total which had covered transfers during February and March. According to court records, as of the end of April a total of 18,087 individuals still remain in Mexico and have not yet been allowed to enter the U.S.

These findings come from analysis conducted by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University. Results are based on comparing MPP court records at the end of January 2021 matched with those from the end of April 2021. TRAC analyzed this matched MPP case cohort to track the Biden administration's phased process of allowing individuals entry into the U.S.

MPP cases assigned to the Brownsville, Texas hearing location continued to show the highest proportion of individuals allowed to enter the U.S. However, MPP cases from Laredo, Texas which had been scheduled to start its processing over a month later made up a lot of lost ground by the end of April. Not only were processing rates highest from the MPP courts in El Paso and Brownsville, but the sheer number of individuals transferred into the U.S. from these two MPP courts accounted for nearly three out of every four individuals allowed to enter the U.S.

MPP court locations also showed very different priorities assigned to cases that had been waiting the longest versus shortest periods of time. Laredo, Texas and San Ysidro, California MPP courts tended to follow a 'first in-first processed' pattern. In contrast, for individuals in the MPP courts in El Paso, Texas and Calexico, California, cases tended to prioritize more recent arrivals.

Around half of individuals from Venezuela (51%) and Cuba (46%) with pending MPP cases had been paroled into the U.S. to awaiting their Immigration Court hearings by the end of April. In contrast, much lower percentages of people from Guatemala (19%), Peru (17%), Brazil (13%) and Ecuador (4%) with pending MPP cases had made their way into the U.S. by the same time.

To read the full report, including full details by MPP court, nationality, wait times, representation, and where in the U.S. individuals transferred their cases to, go to:

https://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/647/

To examine a variety of Immigration Court data, including asylum data, the backlog, MPP, and more now updated through April 2021, use TRAC's Immigration Court tools here:

https://trac.syr.edu/imm/tools/

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TRAC is self-supporting and depends on foundation grants, individual contributions and subscription fees for the funding needed to obtain, analyze and publish the data we collect on the activities of the US Federal government. To help support TRAC's ongoing efforts, go to:

https://trac.syr.edu/cgi-bin/sponsor/sponsor.pl