Cases of previously denied migrants in camp may reopen

MEXICO CITY — In a camp at the U.S.-Mexico border, some asylum seekers were told by officials that the U.S. government may reopen their cases and they would eventually be able to enter the U.S. to wait out the asylum process.

The new opening for people previously denied came as Mexican authorities worked to close the improvised camp along the banks of the Rio Grande, across the border from Brownsville, Texas, that has housed thousands of asylum seekers over the more than two years it existed.

Late Friday night, an official with Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said via Twitter that the last asylum seekers with active cases from the camp had been processed and the camp was closed. Others with closed asylum cases who were told their cases could be reopened were urged to move to a shelter. But about 50 still remained in the camp Saturday.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment Friday and Saturday.

Last month, the Biden administration began processing asylum seekers who had been forced to wait out the long process from Mexico during the administration of former President Donald Trump. The Matamoros camp was one of the most visible signs of a policy implemented in response to high numbers of asylum seekers by an administration that worked in various ways to make it more difficult to access protective status in the United States.

On Saturday, Juan Antonio Sierra, who runs the separate migrant shelter in Matamoros, confirmed that he had committed to housing asylum seekers with closed cases so that the camp could be closed.

Sierra said that the day before, the U.S. Consul in Matamoros, Yolanda Parra, met with officials from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organization for Migration, Mexico’s National Immigration Institute, Sierra and some migrants. She agreed that the U.S. government would evaluate the possible reopening of closed cases for the people who remained in the camp, Sierra said.

The U.S. State Department referred questions to the Department of Homeland Security.

EMILIO ESPEJEL/AP 2019 Migrants return to Mexico as others line up to request asylum in the U.S. at the bridge in Matamoros, Mexico, that crosses into Brownsville, Texas.