Supreme Court Orders Biden Admin to Reinstate ‘Remain in Mexico’ Policy

The Supreme Court has ordered the Biden administration to reinstate the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy, which requires people seeking asylum to wait in Mexico until their case is heard.

The court wrote in an unsigned order (pdf) on Aug. 24 that the Biden administration failed to show that it hadn’t acted in an “arbitrary and capricious” manner when it rescinded the policy, officially known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program, that started in 2019 under then-President Donald Trump’s administration.

The court cited its opinion from 2020 that rejected the Trump administration’s effort to end a separate immigration program, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). In that decision, the court ruled that ending DACA would be “arbitrary and capricious” and in violation of federal law.

President Joe Biden suspended the MPP program in January, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officially terminated the policy in June, telling employees in a memo that it would no longer enforce the program.

The move triggered a lawsuit from Texas and Missouri, with the attorneys general from the two states arguing that DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas had failed to provide “reasoned justification” to suspend the program. – READ MORE