Published 16:50 IST, February 20th 2021
First group of asylum seekers enter US as Joe Biden unwinds Donald Trump's policy
The first group of asylum seekers were allowed into the United States on Friday. A group of 25 migrants were transported by bus across the US-Mexico border.
The first group of 25 asylum seekers crossed the US border on Friday under President Joe Biden's immigration reforms. Thousands of more migrants waited for their turn in Mexico. UNHCR accompanied the migrants' group while entering the US. The migrants' group travelled by bus across the US-Mexico border at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. The migrants were tested for COVID-19 before entering and they were tested negative as per the reports by AP. The migrants' were given face masks and they travelled by bus across the US-Mexico border at the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
Joe Biden unwinds Trump's policy
US President Joe Biden's new immigration reforms are a welcome step for thousands of asylum seekers from Central America who were earlier being sent back through the border under Trump's "Remain in Mexico" program. The Biden administration last week announced that it would slowly start processing the approximately 25,000 asylum seekers who were forced to wait out for their process in Mexico under Trump's administration. Other migrants are still waiting for their turn to enter the US.
Image: A woman seeking asylum in the United States waits with others for news of policy changes, Friday, Feb. 19, 2021, in Tijuana, Mexico. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
The Biden administration on February 12 announced plans for tens of thousands of asylum seekers waiting in Mexico for their next immigration court hearings to be allowed in the US while their cases proceed. Biden's administration had announced that the first stage of the program would begin on February 19. Asylum seekers were forced to stay south of the border while their cases were being resolved under Donald Trump's "Remain in Mexico" program. Biden is working on his campaign promise as he had told Americans, "It is a moral failing and a national shame when a father and his baby daughter drown seeking our shores. When children are locked away in overcrowded detention centers and the government seeks to keep them there indefinitely.”
Updated 16:50 IST, February 20th 2021