The Trump administration’s "Remain in Mexico" policy is working. True asylum seekers are to remain safe in Mexico until they're allowed legally to come to the US.
What started as a pilot program in San Diego last year to keep migrants from gaining entry into the U.S. has worked its way down to the Rio Grande Valley.
Center for Immigration Studies Director of Policy Studies Jessica M. Vaughan said requiring asylum seekers to wait in Mexico means...
"People who are not really seeking asylum, which is most of them, are not getting what they came for which is access to the United States, so a lot of them are weighing the cost and benefits and saying this isn't worth it," said Vaughn.
She said rather than wait a year in a border city like Nuevo Laredo or Ciudad Juarez, Mexico keeping illegal asylum seekers makes it less beneficial to opportunistic migrants, urging them to return home.
"They shouldn't have come to begin with, they did because of our policies, and now they realize that it's not as easy as it used to be and the best thing for them to do is return home," said Vaughn.
She said being stuck in Northern Mexico sends a signal--the party's over and they should stop coming to the US illegally.