The Biden administration on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to rule whether it can end the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy, Axios reports.
Biden restarted the controversial policy requiring asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their claims are processed after the Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling ordering the administration to reimplement the program.
The Justice Department on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to rule on whether Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is required to implement the directive and whether the appeals court “erred” by deciding that the department’s decision to terminate the policy had no legal effect.
"In short, the lower courts have commanded DHS to implement and enforce the short-lived and controversial MPP program in perpetuity," the DOJ said in the filing.
Mayorkas issued new memo on policy:
The Biden administration first tried to end the program in June but a Texas judge in August ruled that the administration improperly ended the policy, which the Supreme Court upheld.
The administration launched a new effort to “properly” end the policy. Mayorkas supervised a review that determined that the policy "may very well have led to a reduction of irregular migration” but was not worth the humanitarian costs.
The policy "diverts resources away from other key administration priorities, including long-standing efforts to address root causes of migration and other key initiatives that are designed to develop more sustainable, effective, effective and durable reforms to the asylum system," the DHS said.
DOJ pushes for quick decision:
The DOJ in its filing pressed the Supreme Court to review the case this term.
"Delaying review until next Term would likely postpone resolution of those critical issues until sometime in 2023. In the meantime, the government would be forced to continue negotiating with Mexico to maintain a controversial program that it has already twice determined is no longer in the best interests of the United States," the filing says.
