"Remain in Mexico" to be reinstated after Texas & Missouri Governor's lawsuit sough to reinstate successful policy
Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered former President Donald Trump's successful "Remain in Mexico" Policy to be fully reinstated after now-President Joe Biden suspended the program by Executive Order during his first day in office – prior to having leaders within the Homeland Security Department permanently terminate the program in June.
The Supreme Court said Tuesday that the Biden Administration likely violated Federal Law in trying to end the Trump-era program, which forced people to "wait in Mexico" while their cases seeking asylum in the U.S. worked its way through the Federal Justice System.The Trump Administration largely stopped using the “Remain in Mexico” policy at the start of the pandemic, at which point it began turning back virtually everyone crossing the Southwest Border under a different protocol – Public Health Order that remains in effect.
The nation's highest court refused to block a lower court's order, and by doing so instructed the Biden Administration to reinstate the Trump program. Under the lower court ruling, the Biden Administration must make a “good faith effort” to restart the program.
The judge, U.S. District Judge Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk in Amarillo, Texas, ordered the "Remain in Mexico" program to be reinstated in response to a lawsuit filed by the states of Texas and Missouri, whose governors have been seeking to reinstate some of the successful anti-immigration policies put in place by the Trump Administration to curtail the onslaught of migrants flowing into the Southern Border states.
During Donald Trump’s presidency, the policy required 10s of 1,000s of illegal immigrants to be turned back to Mexico. Meant to discourage asylum seekers, the program is veiwed as having played a key role in President Trump's successful efforts to curtain mass illegal immigration into the united States – though critics said it denied immigrants their legal right to seek protection in the U.S., and forced them to wait in dangerous Mexican border cities while their cases were adjudicated.
Both Judge Kacsmaryk and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused Biden’s request to put the ruling on hold.
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito ordered a brief delay to allow the full court time to consider the Biden Admin’s appeal to keep the ruling on hold while the case continues to make its way through the courts. The 5th Circuit, however, ordered an expedited consideration of Biden’s appeal.The administration has “failed to show a likelihood of success on the claim that the memorandum rescinding the Migrant Protection Protocols was not arbitrary and capricious,” the court wrote Tuesday in an unsigned order.
With three of the Court's liberal justices in dissent, Justices Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan & Sonia Sotomayor did not write an opinion explaining their views of the case.
In a statement, the President Biden's Department of Homeland Security said it would continue to challenge the district court’s order. There is nothing preventing the administration from trying again to end the program, formally called Migrant Protection Protocols.
The American Civil Liberties Union called on Biden to present a better rationale for ending "Remain in Mexico" that could withstand court scrutiny.
