The Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear arguments in a case that could determine whether the Biden administration can terminate the so-called “Remain in Mexico” policy.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear oral arguments in a case that could determine whether the Biden administration can terminate the so-called, a rule first implemented under former President Donald Trump that requires migrants arriving at the southern border to wait outside the U.S. for their asylum hearings. At the center of the case, known as Biden v. Texas, is the decision last year by President Biden’s appointees to suspend and ultimately end the policy, which the Trump administration utilized to require 70,000 Latin American migrants to wait outside the U.S. while their asylum requests were reviewed. Formally known as the Migrant Protection Protocols, the Trump administration scaled back the rule at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Mr. Biden ended it upon taking office. In August 2021, Republican officials in Texas convinced a federal judge to U.S. border officials to reinstate the program. In his ruling, which was later upheld by a federal appeals court, U.S. Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee, said the administration did not adequately justify Remain in Mexico’s termination and that the policy’s end led officials to violate a 1996 law that requires the detention of certain migrants. Since December, the Biden administration has been implementing the border policy, albeit in a limited fashion. But it has continued to argue it has the authority to end the program once and for all, denouncing its “unjustifiable human costs” on asylum-seekers. Justice Department lawyers, who asked the Supreme Court to intervene in the case on an expedited basis, are expected to argue Tuesday that the executive branch has broad authority to rescind policies enacted by previous administrations. In a brief for the court, Justice Department lawyers said the conclusions reached by the lower courts would mean that every U.
