Biden may halt ‘remain in Mexico’ immigration protocols
Court says unwinding of Trump policy was lawful
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the Biden administration to end a Trump-era immigration policy that required migrants seeking asylum to remain in Mexico while their cases are reviewed, ending a yearlong legal fight over a policy critics say contributed to a humanitarian crisis on the border.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority. He was joined by Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh and the court’s liberal bloc. Associate Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas and Amy Coney Barrett dissented.
In the final opinion handed down in the 2021-2022 term, Roberts said that the lower court’s ruling against the administration “imposed a significant burden upon the executive’s ability to conduct diplomatic relations with Mexico.” That’s because, Roberts noted, the United States cannot unilaterally return migrants who are from Central America to Mexico. Those returns must be negotiated with Mexican officials.
The 5-4 decision allowed the administration to unwind a policy held over from President Donald Trump.
In dissent, Alito blamed the administration for releasing “into this country untold numbers of aliens who are very likely to be removed if they show up for their removal hearings.
“This practice violates the clear terms of the law,” Alito said.
The Trump administration implemented the “remain in Mexico” policy, also known as Migrant Protection Protocols, in January 2019 as part of its effort to curb immigration. It requires migrants from Central American and other nations seeking asylum to wait in Mexico for their claims to be reviewed. By the end of 2020, the federal government had enrolled 68,000 people in the program, according to court records.
Biden rescinded the program last year. Texas and Missouri sued, asserting the Department of Homeland Security didn’t follow the law when it unwound the program because it didn’t explain its reasoning for doing so. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit sided with the states in December.
Federal law requires DHS to detain migrants while their asylum claims are considered, but Congress hasn’t provided enough money to fulfill that mandate for most migrants.
Of the 220,000 encounters border agents had with immigrants on the southwest border in March, DHS had funding for only 32,000 detention beds, federal officials told the court.
The Biden administration never disputed that it is required by law to detain those immigrants. The question was what to do with those people when Congress hasn’t provided the money to carry out the requirement. Texas and Missouri said the law demanded that most of those people be returned to Mexico. Biden officials countered that the law has no such requirement, and they pointed out that no prior administration before Trump’s – Republican or Democrat – interpreted it that way.
The Biden administration paroled thousands of migrants into the U.S. to await hearings. The administration said the arrangement allows officials to prioritize for detention people who are most likely to commit crimes or flee.