Despite the generally expressed dismay among Biden’s administration after the US Supreme Court decided earlier this month to reinstate former President Donald Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” migration policy, it has definitely brought relief to some Biden’s officials, The New York Times reports.
The idea behind Trump’s policy – also known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP)- before the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had formally ended it in June and that President Biden has repeatedly condemned as inhumane, was to block tens of thousands of asylum seekers Central America by forcing them to wait in Mexico for the outcome of their immigration hearings in the US.
The US Supreme Court ruled that a federal judge’s order to reinstate MPP had to be followed after Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas earlier in August ordered Biden administration to reinstate the policy.
DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was accused of arbitrarily and capriciously ending the MPP failing to consider the main benefits of the programme in the process and to show a reasoned decision. The ruling noted that Mayorkas violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) by not addressing the problems created by false claims of asylum.
The judge also stressed that the number of enforcement encounters on the southwest border has skyrocketed since the MPP’s termination, with 21-year high of at least 212,672 undocumented migrants recorded in July after they were encountered on the nation’s border.
Politico has previously reported citing unnamed sources that the Biden administration is considering restarting “a more humane version” of the MPP and is now discussing it with the Mexican government.
It envisioned a small number of asylum seekers to wait in Mexico, provided with better living conditions and access to attorneys, for their cases to be processed.
The move was blasted by the executive director of the National Immigration Law Centre, Marielena Hincapie, who stressed that Biden should stand by his campaign promises to end MPP and not promote kinder MPP 2.0 policy, and by Robyn Barnard, Human Rights First’s senior advocacy counsel for refugee protection, who criticized the frustrating behavior of constantly changing policies and situations on the border.
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