Migrants crowd Mexico's refugee offices amid fears of U.S. policy change

A government official talks to migrants waiting to regularize their migration status outside Mexico's Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR) in Tapachula, Chiapas state, Mexico January 3, 2023. REUTERS/Jose Torres

TAPACHULA/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Thousands of migrants have flocked to government offices in southern Mexico seeking asylum since the United States said it would keep restrictions used to quickly expel hundreds of thousands of migrants who have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border.

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court said it would maintain a COVID-19 era measure for expediting expulsions of undocumented migrants to Mexico until it had had time to consider Republican arguments against its repeal, which U.S. President Joe Biden said could extend the curbs until at least June.