PHOENIX (AP) — Asylum-seekers who cross the border through Arizona are now being bused by immigration authorities to Texas, where they can be sent to Mexico to await their U.S. immigration court hearings.
The government said its highly criticized program known colloquially as Remain in Mexico is now in effect all across the Southwestern border. That includes the Tucson Sector, which comprises a large chunk of Arizona.
The Washington Post first reported the news that authorities plan on busing migrants from Arizona to El Paso to be sent to Mexico.
A Customs and Border Protection spokesman confirmed that migrants apprehended in Arizona will also be subject to the program, called Migrant Protection Protocols.
The government has forced over 55,000 asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico. The migrants often wait in squalid camps, and many are kidnapped, robbed or extorted.