Samuel Case, FISM News
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday officially certified its month-old ruling that will allow the Biden administration to end the Trump-era “remain in Mexico” policy.
In late June, the Supreme Court sided with President Joe Biden, in a 5-4 decision, in his bid to rescind Trump’s immigration policy that forced migrants to stay in Mexico and await U.S. hearings on their asylum claims.
On Monday, the Supreme Court recorded its ruling with a simple docket entry reading “judgment issued.”
The Trump-era policy, formally called the “Migrant Protection Protocols” (MPP), was intended to prevent the common practice of migrants claiming asylum to enter the U.S. and then skipping their court hearing to remain in the country.
Former acting Homeland Security secretary under President Trump, Kevin McAleenan, has suggested that 90% of asylum seekers miss their court hearings.
Biden suspended the policy in January 2021, but the states of Texas and Missouri sued to maintain the program. The New Orleans-based 5th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the states, ruling that the Biden administration failed to properly explain why it was rescinding the policy. The Supreme Court overruled the lower court’s decision.
The court’s certification comes as border crossings continue to break records under the Biden administration.
From October 2021 to June of this year, Border Patrol has experienced more than 2 million border encounters, a new record, with approximately 400,000 of those migrants classified as “got aways,” Breitbart reports.
Despite the surge of border encounters, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said last month that the administration is doing “a good job” at the southern border. He also said he is “very pleased with the Supreme Court’s decision” to allow Biden to end the remain in Mexico policy.
The policy had remained in place until now despite the administration’s court victory in June. A DHS spokesperson told TIME magazine that the administration was waiting for the judgment to be issued before lifting the protocol.
“DHS will take immediate steps to terminate MPP as soon as legally permissible and urges the courts to act expeditiously once the judgment has [been] issued,” the spokesperson said.