The Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), otherwise known as “Remain in Mexico,” yesterday was reinstated by the U.S. Supreme Court. The policy, which had been put into place by President Trump in 2019 to end “catch and release,” requires asylum seekers crossing into the U.S. from the south to return to Mexico to await a decision on their asylum petition.
When the Biden administration attempted to abandon MPP in June, the states of Texas and Missouri sued, claiming that “ending the policy was both illegal in the way that it was done, and that it harmed both border states and states deeper in the interior by encouraging migrants.” As we reported on August 16, a federal judge in Texas ordered the program reinstated, and then both he and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused the administration’s request to put that order on hold.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court, on a six-to-three vote, also refused to block the lower court’s order, and the MPP was officially reinstated. Those justices dissenting were the Court’s most liberal: Kagan, Sotomayor, and Breyer. The decision, although a win for the Trump policy, is not final. The case can now proceed at a lower level in an appeals court.
In response to yesterday’s ruling, the Biden DHS expressed its opposition to the decision and vowed to keep pursuing the policy’s elimination. It did, however, promise to comply with the order “in good faith.” Whatever that means.
Omar Jadwat, a lawyer from the American Civil Liberties Union, responded by saying the Biden administration must “take all steps available to fully end this illegal program, including by re-terminating it with a fuller explanation.”
Yael Schacher, at Refugees International, said the administration “must not see this decision as a mandate.”
As usual with these people, there are no defeats, only temporary setbacks.
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