McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) – Sandra Andrade, an immigrant from El Salvador, has lived in a camp in Matamoros, Mexico, since October 2019. She is part of the Trump administration's Migrant Protection Protocols program, as well known as the "Stay in Mexico" program, which barred her from living in the United States during her asylum hearing process.

But on Monday, she told Border Report that she and hundreds of others in the camp had high expectations and "hope that President Joe Biden will announce a miracle," possibly as early as Tuesday, that will get them across the bridge. south.Texas and live in the United States while their cases are tried.

"People here are waiting and waiting," Andrade, 40, said by phone. "At the moment, we don't have a resolution."

Loud children's voices could be heard in the background. Andrade is a teacher at the Sidewalk School for asylum-seeking children, where students gather to learn math, art and reading while living in tents in a fenced-in camp guarded by immigration officials. Mexicans on the banks of the Rio Grande.

All of Andrade's children are in the United States and she wants to cross to join them, she said.

“Everyone is waiting. The children are waiting. The conditions here are bad,” Andrade said.

Andrade, like others in the camp, suffered flooding after the remnants of Hurricane Hanna in July destroyed their tents, which are located in what was once a city park, just blocks from the Gateway International Bridge and across the border from Brownsville, Texas.

They have lived through rats flooding their tents, mosquitoes biting them when they sleep, heat over 100 degrees and some nights below freezing.

“It will be a great miracle,” Andrade said.

“This is a humanitarian crisis,” he told Border Report during a visit to the Matamoros camp in November, just days after Biden was elected. “It is something Mr. Biden said that he promised to do within the first 100 days: eliminate the MPP and restore asylum.… MPP is not constitutional.

White House press secretary Jenn Psaki told the media Monday that they expect the Biden administration to announce notable changes to immigration policies on Tuesday. The White House also hopes the Senate will confirm Alejandro Mayorakas as the new Biden's Homeland Security Secretary.

“We certainly hope that it will be confirmed tomorrow and we have every intention of moving forward tomorrow with the executive actions on immigration that we have discussed,” Psaki said.

Just hours after Biden took office, the Department of Homeland Security announced it had suspended the MPP program and was no longer adding migrants. However, they said those currently participating in the program, like Andrade, "should stay where they are, at the awaiting further official information from US government officials."

Migrant advocates expect the information to arrive Tuesday.

"We look forward to having more information on the end of the 'Remain in Mexico' program tomorrow, and furthermore, we hope that the Biden administration will continue its work to undo the administration's harmful immigration legacy. Trump," Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a policy adviser for the American Immigration Council, told Border Report on Monday afternoon.

Hopes were raised further on Monday after the Biden administration filed briefs with the United States Supreme Court asking the Supreme Court to remove two cases related to the border wall and MPP from the Supreme Court's calendar. Both cases were scheduled for later this month and challenged Donald Trump's immigration policy. The case against MPP has called into question whether it is legal.

Most of the MPP cases, more than 22,000, have been adjudicated by immigration courts in El Paso, where the program was first implemented. More than 16,400 cases have been assigned to Brownsville at the Gateway International Bridge and 13,400 cases have been have assigned the point of entry to the Courts of Laredo, Texas.

Andrade is one of those migrants who had to pay 30 cents each time to cross the Gateway International Bridge for hearings. They must queue four hours before their hearing, and hearings are often scheduled for 8 a.m.

But since travel restrictions were imposed and asylum courts were suspended, he has spent his days waiting in his tent with 600 other migrants participating in the program. The bright spot is the days he teaches children in the camp.

“Joe Biden promised to end the MPP, which he did, but he also promised to release asylum seekers who have been stuck in Mexico for over a year and a half so they can await their trials in the United States here in the United States” Felicia Rangel-Samponaro, director of the sidewalk school for asylum-seeking children, said in a video posted on the nonprofit's Facebook page. “The students inside the Matamaoros camp are still there. from Sidewalk school is always there. Everyone still lives in the woods.«

Rangel-Samponaro said those seeking asylum since the Jan. 20 orders were issued have been allowed to cross, but Andrade and others waiting are stranded on the other side.

"It's like they can skip the line. And that's not fair. They waited their turn," she said."It helps these people get noticed."