It has been reported that a federal appeals court has smacked President Joe Biden and his administration’s attempt to undo former President Donald Trump’s “Remain In Mexico” policy. The policy requires migrants who are seeking asylum to stay in Mexico until their cases are heard, The Associated Press reported.
In a Monday night ruling, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans upheld a Texas-based federal judge’s decision maintaining Trump’s policy, formally known as the “Migrant Protection Protocols.”
President Joe Biden’s administration had appealed the August decision but also began working with Mexico to reimplement the policy while the legal battle continued. Earlier this month, U.S. authorities sent the first two migrants back to Mexico under the reinstated policy.
Monday’s ruling by three 5th Circuit judges said the administration’s move to end the policy was arbitrary and violated a federal immigration statute requiring detention of those in the country illegally pending removal proceedings. If there is no capacity to detain them, Judge Andrew Oldham wrote for the panel, the statute allows the Department of Homeland Security to return them to “contiguous territories” while proceedings are pending.
On his first day as president, Biden suspended the program, and it was then ended by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in June.
But the administration was sued by the states of Missouri and Texas and U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk issued an injunction because, he said, the administration had not followed the required procedures to end it and was not able to hold all of the asylum seekers.
“Over the course of the program, border encounters increased during certain periods and decreased during others. Moreover, in making my assessment, I share the belief that we can only manage migration in an effective, responsible, and durable manner if we approach the issue comprehensively, looking well beyond our own borders,” he wrote.
