Biden to end Remain-in-Mexico border policy after court order

• The Department of Homeland Security has stopped using the Migrant Protection Protocols, also known as “Remain-in-Mexico”.
• The policy required certain migrants to await their asylum hearings in Mexico.

US border officers on Monday suspended restrictions from the Trump era that obliged certain migrants to await their asylum hearings in Mexico.

The policy was stopped because of a ruling from a federal court that ended a long legal battle over President Biden’s attempts to stop the policy.

In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that it had stopped using the Migrant Protection Protocols, which are also called “Remain-in-Mexico.”

It also stated that it would process migrants already enrolled in the programme and permit them to pursue their asylum claims within the United States.

“DHS is committed to ending the court-ordered implementation of MPP in a quick, and orderly, manner,” the department noted, urging asylum-seekers to rely on official information from the government rather than human smugglers.

The Remain-in-Mexico restrictions were first tried to be lifted by the Biden administration more than a year ago. Monday’s announcement was made possible by a court ruling.

In a one-page order filed Monday afternoon, US District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk overturned a ruling he gave last year requiring the Biden administration to reinstate the Remain-in-Mexico guidelines, which had been halted on President Biden’s inauguration day in January 2021.

Earlier in the day, Justice Department lawyers for the Biden administration requested Kacsmaryk to nullify his August 2021 ruling.

They pointed to the Supreme Court’s decision in June to rule against the legal arguments made by Republican officials in Texas and Missouri, which Kacsmaryk had supported last year.

The Supreme Court’s June 30 judgement did not become legally binding until August 1.

The Biden administration had to overcome numerous legal hurdles before asking Kacsmaryk to revoke his order, including a 5th Circuit Court of Appeals decision from last year.

Even though Monday’s order is a legal win for asylum-seeker activists who called the Remain-in-Mexico policy harsh and draconian, it won’t have much of an effect on current US border policy because the Biden administration only signed up a very small number of migrants for the program.

According to government data, 5,744 migrants have been repatriated to Mexico since the Migrant Protection Protocols were reestablished in December 2021.

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