On Thursday Feb. 25, the first residents of the migrant tent encampment in the Mexican city of Matamoros were finally allowed to cross the border to the United States. Twenty-seven people, some of whom had requested asylum as many as 18 months ago but were forced to wait in Mexico under former President Donald Trump’s Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program, were finally given permission to continue their asylum process in the U.S. Among the group were women, children and transgender individuals who had been persecuted in their home countries.
The processing of camp residents began the previous day with impressive efficiency. The camp was sealed off to newcomers, with everyone asked to remain in their tents. As the day progressed, staff from various United Nations agencies together with representatives of other nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) patiently moved from tent to tent registering each person and explaining the next steps in the process.
As day broke on Thursday, the first group were given COVID-19 tests and then walked across the border, processed by U.S. customs and then driven a few hundred meters by bus to the Brownsville, Texas, bus station, where they were greeted by reporters and emotional members of NGOs.
Dozens of volunteers worked tirelessly around the clock to plan for every eventuality. As the buses of migrants arrived, organizations set up booths providing legal services, clothing, shelter, food and transportation. These people will now be able to wait in the U.S. in the hope of ultimately being granted asylum.
As a result of MPP, thousands of men, women and children found themselves waiting in Mexican border towns. Around 3,000 lived in tents on the banks of the Rio Grande in the city of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, which borders Brownsville in Texas. The U.S. Department of State considers Matamoros so dangerous that consular staff may only travel within a limited radius from the consulate and at certain times of day.
In March 2020, as borders closed due to the pandemic, court dates were suspended, further delaying immigration proceedings. Many people gave up on the idea of entering the United States legally and numbers in the camp dropped to around 700. Some people crossed illegally, some headed back to their home countries and others moved into crowded, often squalid, apartments in the city.
As the year progressed, a tall wire fence, topped by loops of razor wire, enclosed the camp. The only entrance was strictly policed by Mexico’s National Institute of Migration. Journalists were largely excluded from documenting the conditions of the camp.
Many, including young children with no access to formal education, have survived in the camp for more than 18 months. Now, there is the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.
Eight nations are represented within MPP: Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Cuba, Haiti and Venezuela. Mexicans are exempt from the program; however, the closure of the border meant that they too were forced to wait.
Over 70,000 people have been affected by MPP in 2019 and 2020, according to the nonpartisan TRAC Center.