By ELLIOT SPAGAT
Associated Press

SAN DIEGO (AP) - The first scheduled hearings under a new Trump administration policy to make asylum seekers wait in Mexico while their cases wind through U.S. immigration courts will be held Tuesday in San Diego.

The initial appearances come three days before a federal judge in San Francisco hears arguments by advocacy groups to halt enforcement of the policy, which went into effect Jan. 29 in San Diego and was expanded last week to Calexico, California.

Administration officials say they intend to expand the policy along the entire U.S.-Mexico border.

The shift comes as more asylum-seeking families from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador arrive at the U.S. border.

The change has been introduced slowly, with an average of 40 people a week being returned to Tijuana from San Diego in the first six weeks.

Mexico has agreed to accept up to 120 a week.

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