AUSTIN, Texas — Migrants in Mexico have rushed to get into the United States in recent days hoping to make it across the border and get released before the Biden administration begins returning asylum-seekers.

The surge began at two parts of the southern border shortly after the Biden administration announced on Dec. 2 that it had reached a deal with the Mexican government to restart a Trump-era border initiative mandating migrants who are seeking asylum be returned to Mexico while their claims head to U.S. immigration court. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Border Patrol, had set Monday as the date to restart the Migrant Protection Protocols program, otherwise known as “Remain in Mexico.”