Hernandez, 26, said she had fled Guatemala hoping to join her husband and 2-year-old daughter in Miami. Instead, U.S. immigration officials returned her to Ciudad Juarez under the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” policy. …

Hernandez says American officials should let pregnant women remain in the U.S. until their asylum cases are decided. “We should be an exception because we are vulnerable,” she said. “It’s dangerous for us here.” Four other pregnant migrants crossed the bridge on Thursday with her, along with a new mother carrying her 6-day-old daughter. All were in the Remain in Mexico program.

Under President Barack Obama, nearly all pregnant migrants were invited to remain in the United States pending a courtroom hearing for their asylum claims. Moreover, when the migrants lost their claims for asylum, Obama’s deputies barred enforcement officials from deporting the migrants because of their U.S.-born children, dubbed “anchor babies.”

Many migrants recognized this opportunity and rationally grabbed American citizenship for their children. However, the new policy may reduce the number of visibly pregnant migrants who try to claim asylum.

An October 2918 study by the Center for Immigration Studies shows that almost 300,000 children are born to illegal immigrants each year. That number is equivalent to one of every thirteen children born each year.

By May 17, the Department of Homeland Security had sent 6,004 migrants back to Mexico, including several pregnant migrants.

The returned migrants, however, are far slower than the flood across the border. During April and May, roughly 200,000 migrants rushed through the catch and release loopholes to cross the border.

The Remain in Mexico program — which is now called the “Migrant Protection Protocols ” — is growing because it has survived the first round of legal fights.

9th Circuit Court OKs 'Remain in Mexico' plan which allows US border officers to partway throttle the flow of money in the cartels' Central American labor trafficking biz. US immigration lawyers are appalled at some clients' loss of access to US jobs. https://t.co/u9uCciNfg3 — Neil Munro (@NeilMunroDC) May 8, 2019

The policy is also nudging some migrants to return to their homes in Central America, the LAT said: