For a second time, President Joe Biden is trying to end former President Donald Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy, which instructs migrants to wait in Mexico for their immigration hearings. While he has tried to end the program before, a federal judge and the Supreme Court allowed the Trump-era policy to remain in place.
The Department of Homeland Security recently announced that they would look again to “scuttle” the Remain in Mexico policy, formally known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP). They said they intend to issue a new memorandum terminating the previous one, noting that “although the department issued a June 2021 memorandum that terminated MPP, a Texas district court vacated that prior termination determination and issued an injunction that requires the department to work in good faith to restart the MPP.”
The Supreme Court turned down Biden’s request last month to end the program, adding that a new memorandum terminating MPP would not take effect until the current injunction is lifted by a court order. The Department said they intend to address the concerns “with respect to the prior memorandum” and that it will continue while the court injunction remains in effect. The DHS adds that they’ve been having “high-level diplomatic discussions” about the policy with the State Department.
Republican attorney generals in Texas and Missouri have warned the DHS against suspending the program, saying it would result in a surge of illegal immigrants coming to the US. They’ve also argued that ending the policy would do more harm to the country than good and the way it was terminated was illegal.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton called the Remain in Mexico policy a “massive success” and said that Biden’s refusal to enforce it not only destroys our border but our communities. He said he plans to do everything he can to ensure that Biden doesn’t eliminate MPP and get rid of the program altogether. He called out the administration for being such a “disaster” and acting in bad faith.
The DHS states that they are committed to building a “safe, orderly, and humane immigration system” that upholds our laws and values. They said they will continue to process individuals in accordance with U.S law and their mission.
The DHS continues to make disastrous migrant process decisions at the worst possible time. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas even admitted recently that they’ve released nearly 12,000 Haitian migrants who’d been camped out under the Del Rio bridge into the U.S.
Mayorkas shared on Fox News that about 5,000 have already been processed by DHS while 3,000 remain detained. He even admits that the number could go beyond 5,000 for those being processed and that they will make those determinations based on public health and public interest authorities. When Fox News’ Chris Wallace described the thousands of illegal immigrants being released into the U.S as a “flood,” Mayorkas simply replied, “I wouldn’t call it a flood.”
The Biden Administration continues living in their own reality by abandoning Trump-era border policies that have worked and pushing measures that don’t. The only measures the Biden administration pushes are the ones in favor of illegal immigrants and flooding the country with Democratic votes.
