D.C. – The Biden administration reinstated President Trump’s Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program Monday after a successful legal challenge by Texas AG Ken Paxton and Missouri AG Eric Schmitt.
The MPP, also referred to as the “Remain-in-Mexico” policy, requires non-Mexican migrants seeking asylum to remain in Mexico while they await a court date in the United States.
President Biden put a temporary hold on Trump’s 2019 MPP program after taking office in January, and the program was later permanently suspended in June by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Schmitt and Paxton sued the Biden administration in April for the policy’s temporary suspension and argued that allowing migrants to await their court hearing in the U.S. only puts more obstacles in front of federal immigration agencies trying to do their job effectively.
U.S. District Judge of the Northern District of Texas Matthew Kacsmaryk agreed with Schmitt and Paxton, saying the Biden administration “failed to consider several critical factors” before suspending the program. Kacsmaryk then ordered DHS to “enforce and implement MPP in good faith”, according to court records.
“Joe Biden canceled President Trump’s successful Migrant Protection Protocols,” Schmitt, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, said after the August ruling. “This ruling is a huge victory in the fight to secure the border and the fight back against the scourge of human trafficking.”
Kacsmaryk’s decision also required the federal government to file monthly reports detailing the total monthly encounters at the border, total number of migrants detained and the total number of asylum applicants, among other things.
The reinstatement of the policy comes as the Biden administration has received widespread backlash over the past several months for the surge of illegal immigration at the southern border. In September, Border Patrol agents announced that the majority of illegal immigrants are being released into U.S. communities.
DHS immediately appealed Kacymaryk’s ruling, but the federal agency was required to relaunch the MPP while awaiting a decision on their appeal. Americans can expect more updates as the appeal makes its way through the court system.
