The Biden administration has once again lost in federal court over an immigration and border security policy implemented by former President Donald Trump.
According to The Hill, the administration cannot end Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy, ruling that it will remain in place while ongoing legal challenges make their way through court.
“Under the policy, which was enacted in 2019 and is formally known as the Migrant Protection Protocols, asylum-seekers — including those not from Mexico — have been sent to Mexico to await proceedings in their cases,” the outlet noted. “President Biden moved to end the policy, under which more than 70,000 asylum-seekers were sent to Mexico from the United States, upon taking office.”
Attorneys general in Texas and Missouri filed legal challenges against the administration’s attempt to end the policy, which has delayed its repeal. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that Biden could end the policy if he chose to do so and that he would not be violating federal immigration laws.
However, the nation’s high court also returned the cause to lower courts for additional actions and proceedings. The SCOTUS tasked U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk with deciding if the administration’s action to end the policy was “arbitrary and capricious,” in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, which guides federal agencies in how to develop, implement, and rescind policies.
“Kacsmaryk ruled that the plaintiff in this case, Texas, met all requirements for a preliminary injunction to be issued: a likelihood to succeed on the merits of its argument, a likelihood of irreparable harm, the balance of equities tipping in its favor and the public interest being in favor,” The Hill reported.
Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee, “found that the memo that the Biden administration issued in October 2021 failed to adequately include several considerations, including ‘key benefits’ of the policy like the reduction of asylum claims without merit,” the report added. “He said in his ruling that the government also did not consider states’ costs and reliance interests in federal immigration policy.”
The judge’s ruling comes as another Trump-era policy, Title 42 — which called for immediately returning migrants who crossed illegally into the U.S. during the pandemic — is about to end.
Officials estimate that there will be a crush of illegal crossings, perhaps up to 14,000 per day, when that policy ends.