This was reinstated in limited fashion in December thanks to a lower court ruling.
The Justice Department granted a request to the High Court. This was in response to a lawsuit brought by Texas and Missouri. It required that the Biden administration reverse its decision to repeal the “Remain In Mexico” protocols. These protocols require migrants to wait outside the U.S. to receive asylum hearings.
This case is part of a larger legal feud that Texas and the federal government are involved in. Texas has filed numerous lawsuits to stop immigration policies enacted under President Biden. A Democrat who decried the Trump administration’s border policies as draconian, inhumane.
A federal judge in August ordered that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), at the request of Texas, Missouri, revive the “Remain In Mexico” protocols. He ruled that the Trump-era program had been improperly ended by the Biden administration. Under it, 70,000 migrants were sent back to Mexico.
U.S. Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk was appointed by former President Donald Trump. He also found that the DHS violated a law that allows for the detention of certain migrants without legal permission.
The Biden administration appealed the decision and issued a new termination me in October. It stated that the policy’s “unjustifiable” human costs on asylum-seekers returning to border cities in Mexico outweighed its purpose as a deterrent to migrants who might attempt illegal entry to the U.S.
However, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Kacsmaryk’s ruling. A panel of Republican-appointed judges rejected DHS’ second attempt to terminate it and dismissed the argument by the Biden administration that the new memo made the case moot.
The Biden administration revived a modified version of the Migrant Protection Protocols. This was the Trump-era policy’s official title. It enacted several changes including the requirement that border officers ask migrants if they fear being hurt in Mexico.
The administration also provided coronavirus vaccinations to participants in the program. It has also expanded the list of vulnerable asylum-seekers who cannot be returned to Mexico to include elderly people, migrants with severe medical conditions, and those who identify as LGBTQ members.
According to the United Nations migration agency (UNMIG), 572 migrants were reported to have been returned to Mexico as of February 13. This was after MPP was restored in December. MPP has been transporting asylum seekers to shelters.
The Trump administration created the MPP program in 2019 to discourage migrants fleeing economic hardship. It is open to foreigners who can show that they are at risk of being persecuted in the home country because of their political views, religion or membership in a particular social group.
Advocates and Democrats strongly disagreed with the policy. They claimed that it made asylum-seekers more vulnerable to violent criminals in northern Mexico and cartel members. This is the same area the State Department warns U.S. citizens not to visit due to rampant crime and the possibility of being kidnapped.
In fiscal year 2021 U.S. border officers made a record 1.7 million migrant arrests. Although the number of migrants in U.S. custody is still high, the border arrivals declined in January to their lowest level since Mr. Biden’s first month as an officeholder.
Although Mr. Biden sought to end “Remain in Mexico”, his administration retained a more expansive Trump-era border policy, Title 42. This allows U.S. officials and agents to quickly expel migrants from the United States without screening them for asylum because of the coronavirus pandemic.
