Court won’t delay wait-in-Mexico policy
NEW ORLEANS — A federal appellate court refused late Thursday to delay implementation of a judge’s order reinstating a Trump administration policy forcing thousands of people to wait in Mexico while seeking asylum in the U.S.
President Joe Biden had suspended former President Donald Trump’s “remain in Mexico” policy on his first day in office and the Department of Homeland Security said it was terminating the program in June, according to the court record. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk last week ordered that the program be reinstated Saturday.
The Biden administration appealed to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans and asked for a delay in reimplementing the program, formally known as Migrant Protection Protocols, pending appeal. The administration argued in briefs that the president has “clear authority to determine immigration policy” and that the secretary of the Department of Homeland security, Alejandro Mayorkas, had discretion in deciding whether to return asylum-seekers to Mexico.
Lawyers for Texas and Missouri, which challenged the suspension of the policy, opposed a stay of Kacsmaryk’s order. They said the administration had not gone through proper procedures in ending the policy. And they argued that after the policy was implemented immigrants without legitimate claims for asylum had begun to return to their home countries voluntarily.
A three-judge 5th Circuit panel denied a stay of Kacsmaryk’s order. “Even if the Government were correct that long-term compliance with the district court’s injunction would cause irreparable harm, it presents no reason to think that it cannot comply with the district court’s requirement of good faith while the appeal proceeds,” the ruling said.
The ruling affects thousands of asylum-seekers with active cases.
Kacsmaryk was nominated to the federal bench by Trump. The 5th Circuit panel included two Trump nominees, Andrew Oldham and Cory Wilson, along with Jennifer Walker Elrod, nominated to the appeals court by President George W. Bush.
REFUGEE BACKLOG
As the Biden administration struggles to contain crossings along the Mexico border, it has fallen behind on efforts to ramp up refugee admissions, process green cards and boost some of the other legal channels that the White House has promoted as pillars of its immigration strategy.
The U.S. is on pace to admit the smallest number of refugees on record during the government’s current fiscal year, the latest statistics show. Despite the president’s decision in May to raise the refugee cap to 65,000, only 6,246 have been admitted as of July 31. Officials blame the pandemic for limiting U.S. consular services abroad.
The administration’s efforts to rapidly boost refugee admissions are now overshadowed by an urgent scramble to assist tens of thousands of Afghan allies and their family members attempting to flee the Taliban.
Other legal immigration pathways have also lagged. Immigrant advocates and business groups point to more than 100,000 unused employment-based green card slots that are set to expire at the end of the fiscal year Sept. 30. Roughly 60,000 immigrants who have been selected through the Diversity Visa lottery since 2020 are at risk of losing the chance to come to America, many because they cannot get a consular interview.
Felicia Escobar, chief of staff at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said employees have worked diligently to clear backlogs that accumulated during pandemic closures last year. Covid-related closures of processing centers created a backlog of nearly 1 million cases, she said.
The agency has completed 732,000 citizenship naturalizations as of Aug. 13, putting it on pace to reach pre-pandemic levels, according to the most recent figures.
Ur Jaddou, Biden’s appointee as agency director, was confirmed by the Senate this month, and her arrival is expected to bring more stable leadership and a greater urgency to clear backlogs.
The administration has also been consumed for months with an overwhelming migration surge across the southern border, while arguing that its longterm effort to expand channels for migrants to come legally will reduce the number of people trying to enter unlawfully.