United States-bound asylum seekers are not yet being sent back to additional Mexican border towns to wait processing after a deal on Friday called for the program to be immediately extended to the whole border, three Mexican officials said.
The text of the deal stated that the expansion of the so-called Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), also known as “Remain in Mexico,” would begin right away.
Officials in the Mexican border states of Sonora, south of the US states of Arizona and New Mexico, and Tamaulipas, south of Texas, said on Sunday, however, that they were unaware of expansion plans.
“As of today, we haven’t been informed of anything,” said Ricardo Calderon, an official with Tamaulipas’ state migrants’ institute.
Sonora Governor Claudia Pavlovich issued a statement late on Saturday saying she was also awaiting more information on the plans.
The officials did not say whether US authorities had already requested the program be extended to particular cities. Since late January, the mostly Central American asylum seekers are sent back across the San Diego and Calexico crossings in California, and El Paso, Texas.
At one of Tijuana’s already overcrowded migrant shelters, asylum-seeker Patricia Monzon said she was hopeful her patience and compliance with the law would ultimately be rewarded.
