Washington, DC – Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) said today’s Supreme Court ruling that allows the Trump Administration to continue to force asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their protection cases are reviewed puts those seeking U.S. protection in grave danger, including families and young children. Today’s ruling reversed a United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decision to suspend the practice which it found illegal and dangerous. Additional lower court challenges to the policy are ongoing.
In a statement issued after the ruling, KIND President Wendy Young said:
“Today’s ruling to permit the continuation of Remain in Mexico will result in ongoing grave harm for children and their families at the U.S. southern border, and it is inconsistent with America’s role as an international leader in the protection of children. Remain in Mexico jeopardizes children and families’ lives, forcing them to stay in dangerous border towns where they are easy prey for cartels, human traffickers, and other criminal groups that take advantage of their extreme vulnerability and near complete lack of protection. KIND is working with children whose families were forced back into Mexico to await their hearings. In some cases, their parents have disappeared, including one child whose mother never returned from going to report a kidnapping and assault to the police. Not knowing what else to do, these children made the difficult decision to cross back into the United States alone to seek safety. It is unconscionable that our nation has turned its back on our responsibility to protect them.”
To learn more about MPP, see KIND’s resource “REMAIN IN MEXICO: UNLAWFUL AND UNSAFE FOR CHILDREN”
Or, our statement: HTTPS://SUPPORTKIND.ORG/PRESS-RELEASES/TRUMP-ADMINISTRATION-MUST-RESCIND-MIGRANT-PROTECTION-PROTOCOLS/
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Media Contact: Megan McKenna, mmckenna@supportkind.org, 202-631-9990