The United States Department of Homeland Security announced to restore the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy in November in response to the decision of the Supreme Court – even as it works to end the program by a different method. On Friday, a federal judge orders the Biden government to implement and enforce – officially called the Migrant Protection Protocols in reply to a lawsuit from Missouri and Texas, which claimed that the effort of the government to dismiss the policy was harmful and illegal. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the ruling.
Live from the Southwest Border — the Biden administration will comply with a federal court order to reinstate the Remain in Mexico policy. Though DHS will move to cancel it ASAP in a way that complies with the court ruling. pic.twitter.com/YlmwHPm2G0
— Rich Edson (@RichEdsonDC) October 15, 2021
Trump government established and expanded MPP in 2019 and sent migrants back to Mexico. Instead, it released into the United States, as their immigration proceedings heard. The Biden government started unraveling it earlier this year, even amid mounting migrant numbers and officially ended it in June before the court reversal order. Advocates described the policy as extremely effective, by clearing out false or insufficient asylum claims without allowing migrants in the U.S., and one that helped end the process of catch and release.
Because of the current border crisis, which experienced a large number of migrants hit the border during last some months, with several released into the United States, border officials and Republicans urged the Biden government to re-implement the policy. But critics called the whole process inhumane and one that left asylum seekers open to violence and mistreatment on the Mexican side of the U.S. border by criminals and cartels, where migrants grouped in de facto camps.
Substantial Progress” in Re-implementing MPP
In a filing on Thursday, the Biden government said that it made substantial development in re-implementing MPP, even as it says it is looking for alternative ways to end the program. The filing said that it engaged in dialogs with Mexico, concluded operational plans, and also issued a task order to reconstruct the soft-sided facilities, which usually referred to as court tents in Brownsville and Laredo, Texas, to the tune of $14.1 million – with a projected $10.5 million per month in operational costs.
Source: Web
As a result of the last development, DHS foresees in a position to re-implement MPP in November, dependent on decisions from the Mexican administration. Missouri sued DHA over the ending of MPP, blamed the government for having slow-walked compliance with the court order. Eric Schmitt, the Missouri Attorney General, stated that they sued the Biden government in April over their withdrawal of the Remain in Mexico policy, and then they gained success at the district court, Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and at the U.S. Supreme Court, requiring the Democratic government to reimplement the policy.
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