The policy under Trump, and made only worse under the pandemic, “has needlessly and foreseeably exposed children and adults to a high risk of violence and other harm.”

By Julia Conley, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 1-6-2021

Screenshot: ABC News

Human Rights Watch in a new report Wednesday urged President-elect Joe Biden to “quickly and decisively” end a two-year-old policy under which tens of thousands of asylum seekers have been forced to stay in squalid and often dangerous makeshift shelters in Mexico.

The report, titled “‘Like I’m Drowning’: Children and Families Sent to Harm by the U.S. ‘Remain in Mexico’ Program,” includes interviews with several children and adults who have faced abduction, extortion, rape, and other violence—often at the hands of immigration officers or Mexican police—under the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), commonly called “Remain in Mexico.” Continue reading →