The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to consider whether President Joe Biden’s administration can block the previous administration’s “Remain in Mexico” policy, setting the case for arguments in April.
Biden’s administration made its request to the high court to review its case in late December, saying the policy, formerly known as the Migrant Protection Protocols Program, “exposes migrants to unacceptable risks.” MPP effectively allows officials to send non-Mexican migrants to Mexico to await U.S. immigration court hearings.
The highest court’s decision to take up the case follows months of setbacks for the Biden administration by lower courts that rejected attempts to halt the program, forcing the MPP to relaunch under the present administration in December.
BIDEN ADMINISTRATION REQUESTS SUPREME COURT TO LET IT END ‘REMAIN IN MEXICO’ POLICY
Biden suspended the Remain in Mexico policy upon taking office in 2021 and tried to end it in June. However, he was successfully sued by Texas and Missouri to reinstate it and lost an appeal to the Supreme Court by a 6-3 vote refusing to intervene on an emergency basis.
Justice Department Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar said in court filings that lower courts relied on “novel and erroneous interpretations” of federal law to compel the Department of Homeland Security to maintain a program that the Biden administration has “twice determined to be contrary to the interests of the United States.”
In December, the administration argued that delaying review until the next term “would likely postpone resolution of those critical issues until sometime in 2023,” previously noting the policy “detracts from the Executive’s foreign-relations efforts to manage regional migration,” according to court filings.
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The Supreme Court’s agreement to hear the case will mark the first time the court will rule on legal issues surrounding the Trump-era policy.
The highest court will decide later this term whether Biden moved too hastily when ending Trump’s immigration policy upon his first day in office. The court will also weigh whether current immigration law supports the policy.
