DHS confirms plan to send non-Mexican migrants to Mexico

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials confirmed Tuesday that they are working on a plan to send undocumented immigrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border back to Mexico, even if they are not Mexican citizens, ProPublica reported.

“This would say if you want to make a claim for asylum or whatever we’ll hear your case but you are going to wait in Mexico,” a DHS official said, according to the report.

“Those are details that are being worked out both within the department and between the U.S. government and the government of Mexico. … There are elements that still need to be worked out in detail.”

{mosads}Current immigration trends have seen Hondurans, Guatemalans, Brazilians, Salvadorans, Haitans and Ecuadorians crossing the United States’s southern border.

The change could potentially see tens of thousands of non-Mexican migrants — largely applying to Central Americans fleeing violence — being sent to Mexico if they arrived over the U.S.-Mexico border, CNN noted. 

Current law allows those who cross the U.S.-Mexico border to apply for asylum, but the new provision would force immigrants to wait in Mexico while seeking asylum in the U.S.

The DHS on Tuesday released two memos detailing new immigration enforcements under the Trump administration.

The memos expand immigration raids and the definition of criminal aliens. They also allow immigration officials to remove aliens who are unable to prove they have been in the U.S. for more than two years.