"The United States has begun implementing the Migrant Protection Protocols", the U.S. embassy in Mexico said in a statement.
Carlos Catarlo Gomez, an asylum-seeker from Honduras, returns to Mexico from the United States while his case is processed.
TIJUANA, MEXICO - APRIL 29: People hold a Honduran flag and look into the United States from atop a section of border fence as members of a caravan of Central American asylum seekers arrive to a rally on April 29, 2018 in Tijuana, Baja California Norte, Mexico. Mexican immigration authorities ushered him into a waiting van and took him to a shelter for migrants.
Mexican authorities have said the USA plans to continue presenting 20 people a day at the Tijuana crossing, and eventually extend the policy to other points along the 3,145-kilometer (2,000-mile) border.
Asylum seekers from Mexico itself, along with children traveling with them, will now be exempt from the policy, according to Customs and Border Protection guidelines.
The Department of Homeland Security said the new policy aims to discourage invalid asylum claims. Announced a year ago, the policy aims to curb what Trump calls "catch and release"-allowing migrants who cross the border without papers and claim asylum to remain in the United States while their cases are processed".
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The launch is limited to San Diego's San Ysidro border crossing, the nation's busiest, though Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan wrote in a memo released Tuesday that it is expected to expand to other crossings "in the near future".
The "remain in Mexico" program had been set to start last week with about 20 migrants returning to Tijuana. A sharp increase in Central American families seeking asylum in the USA led to the Trump administration's dramatic move, and limiting families would diminish the impact. But Mexican officials have expressed concern about their ability to provide a comprehensive humanitarian response to the new USA policy. "The US government wants to turn Mexico into a vast immigration detention center".
The head of the Border Patrol union has also criticized the policy, saying it will incentivize illegal immigration and create more stress for Border Patrol agents. They have also raised concerns that applicants sent back to Mexico will not have access to proper legal counsel in US courts.
Nielsen said in a statement Monday that the policy "will bring order to chaotic migration flows, restore the integrity of the United States immigration system, and allow DHS to focus resources on individuals who are actually fleeing persecution while holding individuals accountable who make false immigration claims".
But the plan has been sharply criticised by opponents on both sides of the border.
"They open the northern border, they open the southern border, but then they close the funds to help us", Magallanes Cortés said.
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