Supreme Court hears arguments on ending ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy for asylum seekers

A man from Nicaragua sits at a shelter for migrants.
A Nicaraguan asylum seeker sits at a shelter for migrants Thursday in Tijuana, the place he's ready for a listening to in U.S. immigration court docket.
(Gregory Bull / Related Press)

The Biden administration is searching for the Supreme Court docket’s go-ahead to finish a controversial Trump-era immigration program that forces some folks searching for asylum within the U.S. to attend in Mexico for his or her hearings.

The justices are listening to arguments Tuesday within the administration’s enchantment of lower-court rulings that required immigration officers to reinstate the “Stay in Mexico” coverage that the administration “has twice decided will not be within the pursuits of the USA,” in line with court docket filings.

Texas and Missouri, which sued to maintain this system in place, mentioned it has helped cut back the move of individuals into the U.S. on the southern border. “Many [migrants] elevate meritless immigration claims, together with asylum claims, within the hope that they are going to be launched into the USA,” the states informed the Supreme Court docket in a submitting.

About 70,000 folks had been enrolled in this system, formally often called Migrant Safety Protocols, after President Trump launched it in 2019 and made it a centerpiece of efforts to discourage asylum seekers.

President Biden suspended it on his first day in workplace and Homeland Safety Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas ended it in June 2021. In October, the DHS produced further justifications for the coverage’s demise, to no avail within the courts.

This system resumed in December, however barely 3,000 migrants had enrolled by the top of March, throughout a interval when authorities stopped migrants about 700,000 instances on the border.

The guts of the authorized struggle is whether or not this system is discretionary and could be ended, because the administration argues, or is actually the one option to adjust to what the states say is a congressional command to not launch immigrants into the USA.

With out ample detention services within the U.S., Texas and Missouri argue that the administration’s solely choice is to make the immigrants wait in Mexico till their asylum hearings.

The 2 sides individually disagree about whether or not the way in which the administration went about ending the coverage complies with a federal regulation that compels companies to observe guidelines and spell out causes for his or her actions.

These being compelled to attend in Mexico broadly say they're terrified in harmful Mexican border cities and discover it very laborious to seek out attorneys to deal with their asylum hearings.

Democratic-led states and progressive teams are on the administration’s facet. Republican-led states and conservative teams have sided with Texas and Missouri. These embrace the America First Authorized Basis, led by former Trump aides Stephen Miller and Mark Meadows.

Because the court docket is weighing the asylum coverage, the administration is predicted to finish one other key Trump-era border coverage that was put in place due to the coronavirus pandemic. It permits authorities to expel migrants and not using a likelihood to hunt asylum. The choice to finish Title 42 authority, named for a 1944 public well being regulation, on Might 23 is being legally challenged by 22 states and faces rising division amongst Democrats.

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