US Announces $20 Million Aid Package for Central America, Mexico

The United States on Friday announced an additional $20 million package of humanitarian aid for Mexico and Central America.  The aid will "help meet urgent humanitarian needs for the nearly 700,000 asylum-seekers, refugees, and vulnerable migrants in Central America and Mexico," the State Department said in a press release.  Specifically, the money will go toward shelter, health care, legal assistance and mental health services, the State Department said.  The U.S. has provided more than $331 million in aid to Central America and Mexico in Fiscal Year 2021, making it the "largest single donor of humanitarian aid in Central America and Mexico and to asylum-seekers, refugees, and vulnerable migrants in the region."  The move comes as the Biden administration announced it will comply with a court order and resume, in mid-November, an immigration program commonly referred to as "Remain in Mexico," which was started by former President Donald Trump.  That program requires asylum-seekers to stay in Mexico until they have a U.S. court hearing.  In June, Biden ended the program, formally called Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), but a federal court in August overruled the administration.  Biden is reportedly looking to make another effort to rescind the program. Some information in this report comes from Reuters.