The U.S. appeals court rejected another attempt by the Biden administration to end a policy by former President Donald Trump that forced tens of thousands of migrants to wait in Mexico to resolve their U.S. asylum cases.
Shortly after taking office in January this year, President Biden wanted to scrap his Republican predecessor’s policy, often referred to as “Remain in Mexico,” but a federal judge ruled it had to be reinstated after Texas and Missouri sued over the rescission.
This policy is officially called the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), and under this law, migrants seeking asylum must wait in Mexico for weeks and sometimes even for a few years for a U.S. court date instead of being allowed to wait in the United States for their hearings.
This led to migrants being stuck in dangerous border cities, kidnappings and other dangers.
In the hopes to overcome the legal challenges, the Biden Administration re-issued a memo terminating MPP, but the conservative-leaning 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was not convinced by it.
“The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claims the power to implement a massive policy reversal, affecting billions of dollars and countless people, simply by typing out a new Word document and posting it on the internet. No input from Congress, no ordinary rulemaking procedures, and no judicial review,” said the court.
The judges wrote in a 117-page opinion that ‘DHS has come nowhere close to shouldering its heavy burden to show that it can make law in a vacuum.’
The number of migrants caught crossing the border between the United States and Mexico has jumped to a record high this year, which has provoked criticism from Republicans.
In accordance with the court order, the administration started sending the first asylum seekers to Mexico again.
“The Biden administration reinstated the Trump-era Remain-in-Mexico policy on Wednesday, following a Supreme Court decision that ruled President Biden violated federal law when he suspended the program in January.”