Despite Supreme Court Ruling, Biden Administration Slow to End "Remain in Mexico" Policy
The Biden administration is facing renewed criticism for failing to terminate the notorious Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), despite a Supreme Court decision authorizing the administration to end the program. The MPP, also known as the “Remain in Mexico” policy, is a program enacted by the Trump administration designed to prevent migrants from crossing into the United States. At the same time, they apply for asylum, effectively forcing them to remain in Mexico while their claims are adjudicated in the United States. More than one month has passed since the Supreme Court issued its ruling, yet the administration has been slow to cease the policy. The policy has been slammed by advocates who note that requiring migrants to remain in Mexico forces them to remain in unhealthy camps and shelters, often becoming the target of violence or exploitation in dangerous cities along the border.
The Biden administration had previously attempted to end the program in the summer of 2021. Still, it was prevented from doing so by Texas and Missouri, who sued to keep the program in place, claiming increased costs would burden them. A federal district judge ruled in favor of the states and ordered the administration to keep the program in place. A circuit court upheld the ruling despite attempts by the administration to issue a new legal memo to end the program. However, on June 30, 2022, the Supreme Court decided in a 5-4 ruling that the administration did have the right to end the program and that lower courts were incorrect in their rejection of the memorandum issued by the Biden administration to justify the termination of the MPP. The MPP stands as one of the most notorious border policies by the Trump administration and has been decried as not only racist but illegal.
Advocates argue that the program is a dangerous departure from international norms that require nations to provide safety to those seeking asylum. The program stands as a frightening example of policies that Western governments may adopt to deter migrants, forcing third countries to host migrants in dangerous and unhealthy conditions. For many, it is no surprise that these policies target people of color and those from the global south. The U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas commented, welcoming the ruling but noted it may take time to implement. "We need to wait until the Supreme Court's decision is actually communicated to the lower court, to the federal district court and the Northern District of Texas ... So, we have to wait several weeks for that procedural step to be taken," he said. However, critics of the administration remain unconvinced. “Their hands aren’t tied,” said Blaine Bookey, legal director of the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies at the University of California, Hastings, in an interview with Times.
“Every single day [MPP is] in place, it’s causing harm, it’s endangering lives, and it’s frankly allowing the Trump Administration to rule from the grave.”Immigration, in general, and the border continue to be a touchstone of controversy and conflict under Biden, just as they were under Trump. While the Trump administration made good on threats to enact anti-immigrant policies and build a divisive wall, the Biden administration has built a track record of breaking promises made on the issue of immigration and continuing Trump-era policies at the border. Despite stating during his campaign that he would not build “another foot” of the Trump border wall, Biden has continued construction on the wall and sought to preserve much of the administrative capacity to detain and deport migrants at the southern border.
His administration promised to end the Title 42 program, which provides border authorities broad discretion to deport individuals under the pretense of protecting public health. Notwithstanding this promise, Biden has continued to use the program to prevent more than 1.8 million people from entering the United States. Biden even went so far as to promise to end the use of for-profit immigration detention facilities. Still, his administration has worked to expand their use and sued states like California that sought to ban their operations. These broken promises are particularly disappointing for advocates that point to Biden’s reluctance to exercise the power that Trump wielded so broadly to terrorize and intimidate immigrant communities.
What may be most disappointing for critics is not only Biden’s broken promises or disorganized strategy but his inability to imagine immigration policies beyond the status quo of exclusions, walls, and deportation. In an interview with Time, Felicia Rangel-Samponaro, the co-director of The Sidewalk School, an organization in Mexico dedicated to helping migrant children, slammed the Biden administration’s continued policies of deportation, which she believes will continue even if the MPP is terminated. “MPP could end right now as we speak, and that would make no difference and Reynosa or Matamoros,” she says. “People will still be stuck [in Mexico]. The expulsions will continue to Reynosa seven days a week.”