Biden Administration Can Get Rid Of Trump’s ‘Remain In Mexico’ Policy, Supreme Court Rules

Breaking Business Biden Administration Can Get Rid Of Trump’s ‘Remain In Mexico’ Policy, Supreme Court Rules Alison Durkee Forbes Staff New! Follow this author to improve your content experience. Got it! Jun 30, 2022, 10:12am EDT | Updated Jun 30, 2022, 11:12am EDT Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Topline The Biden administration can rescind the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” policy that forced asylum seekers to stay out of the U. S.

as they awaited an immigration hearing, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday, after conservative federal judges had previously thwarted the White House’s attempts to get rid of the controversial policy. Immigrant rights activists demonstrate in front of the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on April . .

. [+] 26. AFP via Getty Images Key Facts Chief Justice John Roberts, joined by the court’s liberal justices and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, ruled the Biden administration did have the authority to get rid of the Migrant Protection Protocols, known as the “Remain in Mexico” policy.

GOP officials in Texas and Missouri had sued the administration after it rescinded the Trump-era policy once President Joe Biden took office, and both district and appeals courts had ruled in the states’ favor and said the policy should remain in effect. Those lower courts “erred” by upholding the policy, the justices ruled, however, and nothing stopped the Biden administration from getting rid of it. Asylum seekers do not have to be either kept in immigration detention or sent to Mexico if the government doesn’t have space for them, as the GOP states had argued, the court ruled, but instead federal law allows them to be let out on parole while their immigration case is pending, meaning the “Remain in Mexico” policy is not required to remain in effect.

The appeals court keeping the policy in effect also imposed a “significant burden” on the White House’s diplomatic relations with Mexico, the court ruled, as the Biden administration argued the dispute over the policy—which both the U. S. and Mexican governments wanted to get rid of—was “diverting attention from more productive efforts” on immigration and reducing crime.

Big Number Approximately 70,000. That’s how many immigrants were forced to return to Mexico under the MPP policy under the Trump administration, according to figures cited by the American Immigration Council and UNICEF . Chief Critic “Rather than avail itself of Congress’s clear statutory alternative to return inadmissible aliens to Mexico while they await proceedings in this country, [the Department of Homeland Security] has concluded that it may forgo that option altogether and instead simply release into this country untold numbers of aliens who are very likely to be removed if they show up for their removal hearings,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in his dissent, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch.

“This practice violates the clear terms of the law, but the Court looks the other way. ” Key Background The Trump administration first enacted the “Remain in Mexico” policy in January 2019 as part of the administration’s broader hard-line immigration tactics, reversing a previous policy that let asylum-seekers stay in the U. S.

as they awaited their immigration trials. After the Biden administration moved to end the policy, Missouri and Texas’ attorneys general argued in their April 2021 lawsuit that the administration had done so unlawfully and without sufficiently explaining why. A Trump-appointed federal judge sided with the GOP-led states and forced the White House to reimpose the policy in August, and the conservative-leaning 5th Circuit Court of Appeals similarly sided against the Biden administration in December, even after the Biden administration released a new memo that more fully explained their reasoning for terminating the program.

The Supreme Court’s decision Thursday came after justices had previously sided with the district judge in August and refused to let the Biden administration keep the policy in effect as the litigation moved forward. Further Reading U. S.

Supreme Court hears arguments on whether Biden can toss Trump’s “remain in Mexico” policy (Texas Tribune) Supreme Court Forces Biden To Return To ‘Remain In Mexico’ Asylum Policy (Forbes) Biden Administration Again Seeks End To Trump’s ‘Remain In Mexico’ Policy (Forbes) Follow me on Twitter . Send me a secure tip . Alison Durkee Editorial Standards Print Reprints & Permissions.