Sen. Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, said Thursday that he will work to revive the Remain in Mexico program as the next chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Republicans in both houses of Congress are now in a better position to support President-elect Donald Trump’s policies during his second term, following the Republican Party’s significant gains in November’s elections. Paul, who has served as a ranking member of the Homeland Security Committee, will not only serve as chairman next year, but also use his promotion to revive a massive Trump-era border security program that was halted under the Biden administration. announced that it would support the management. (Related: Houston man arrested on suspicion of planning terrorist attack on U.S. soil)

“I chose to chair this committee over other committees because I believe that the health of our republic requires Congress to once again fulfill its constitutional role.” Paul said in a prepared statement. “This committee’s mission of oversight and investigation is critical to Congress reasserting itself.”

“Our first hearing will consider reinstating the Remain in Mexico policy that was so successful during the first Trump administration,” the senator said.

Remain in Mexico (formally known as Migrant Protection Protocols, or MPP) is an initiative first announced by the Trump administration in December 2018 that allows asylum seekers at the U.S. southern border to have their claims processed through the immigration court system. The plan required them to wait in Mexico until their arrival. The program is aimed at preventing asylum fraud and helped stamp out illegal border crossings during President Trump’s first term.

However, immediately after taking office, President Joe Biden began working to dismantle the Remain in Mexico movement. Despite legal battles throughout the administration to maintain the program, MPP was ultimately abolished. Since then, the Biden administration has seen record levels of illegal immigration into the country, with fiscal years 2023 and 2024 being the worst on record.

Upon returning to the Oval Office, President Trump announced a hard-line immigration policy, implementing the most extensive deportation program in U.S. history, completing the U.S.-Mexico border wall, increasing border security, and granting birthright citizenship to those born in 2018. promised to take away the American soil by illegal immigrant parents. The president-elect himself has pledged to reinstate the Remain in Mexico policy, and Republicans have included it in their policies. official platform ahead of the 2024 Republican National Convention.

But reviving the program would require cooperation from the Mexican government, which could be difficult. In February 2023, a senior official from the administration of then-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador speaks from the heart. rejected the idea There is no reimplementation of the program. Newly elected President Claudia Sheinbaum is widely seen as an ideological disciple of López Obrador.

The Kentucky senator said Thursday he is ready to get serious about starting the next Trump administration.

“We also intend to quickly move President Trump’s key nominees, including Governor Kristi Noem, in time for Inauguration Day,” Paul said. “I look forward to continuing this committee’s storied history of leadership in resulting bipartisan oversight and investigations.”

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