Appeals court won’t delay ‘Remain in Mexico’ return

 

A federal appellate court refused late Thursday to delay implementation of a judge’s order reinstating a Trump administration policy forcing thousands to wait in Mexico while seeking asylum in the U.S.

President Joe Biden had suspended former President Donald Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy on his first day in office and the Department of Homeland Security said it was permanently terminating the program in June, according to the court record. U.S. District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk last week ordered that the program be reinstated Saturday.

The Biden administration appealed to the 5th U.S. Circuit Appeal in New Orleans and asked for a delay in re-implementing the program, formally known as Migrant Protection Protocols, pending appeal. The administration argued in briefs that the president has “clear authority to determine immigration policy” and that the Secretary of the Department of Homeland security, Alejandro Mayorkas, had discretion in deciding whether to return asylum seekers to Mexico.

Lawyers for the states of Texas said Missouri, which challenged the suspension of MPP, opposed a stay of Kacsmaryk’s order. They said the Biden administration had not gone through proper procedures in ending the policy. And they argued that after the policy was implemented immigrants without legitimate claims for asylum had begun to return to their home countries voluntarily...MORE