The United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of President Joe Biden on Thursday (30) and overturned an earlier court decision that ordered the return of the controversial immigration policy known as Remain in Mexico. Adopted during the Donald Trump administration, the policy has forced tens of thousands of immigrants to stay in Mexico while they await U.S. hearings on their asylum claims, which critics say exposes them to risks of kidnapping and other crimes.
By 5 votes to 4, the Supreme Court overturned a federal appeals court decision calling for a return to anti-immigration policy after the Republican-ruled states of Texas and Missouri filed lawsuits to maintain the program. The result is a victory for Biden.
The judges concluded that the 5th US Court of Appeals, based in New Orleans (Louisiana), erred in finding that federal immigration law required sending migrants back to Mexico as long as there was not enough space to detain them in the United States.
The Supreme Court also rejected another court decision that overturned the program’s termination in June 2021. This decision argued that there was a violation of federal administrative law when the Biden administration did not adequately justify ending the previous policy.
The Trump administration adopted the anti-immigration policy, formally called the “Migrant Protection Protocols,” in 2018 in response to a surge in immigration along the Mexican border, changing long-standing US practice.
About 68,000 people were detained in Mexico from the time the policy took effect in 2019 until Biden lifted it in January 2021, including Brazilians and other non-Mexicans.
Up for debate in court was the significance of a provision in the 1996 US immigration law that states that authorities “may return” certain immigrants to Mexican territory while awaiting immigration procedures. Texas and Missouri said this provision should be used because the United States does not have detention space for migrants.
The Biden administration argues that the provision is discretionary and that, if it is to be compulsorily adopted, it means that “every presidential administration, in an unbroken line for the past quarter century, has openly violated” the law. Administrations prior to the Trump presidency used the provision sparingly.
The Democrat also says that lower courts are “unacceptably interfering” with the historically broad authority that US presidents have over immigration and foreign affairs.
For migrants who do not pose a security risk, immigration law separately permits their release into the United States for humanitarian reasons or “significant public benefit” pending a decision on asylum, a practice authorities have followed for decades.
The number of migrants caught illegally crossing the border between the two countries has reached record highs recently. Republicans are critical of Biden’s immigration policies and say the Remain in Mexico policy effectively deterred illegal crossing.
