Judge Orders Biden Administration to Enforce Trump’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ Policy

As president, Donald Trump prioritized border protection. Against Democratic resistance, he found the funds to start building a wall along the southern border to protect Americans and the rule of law. After a three-judge panel of U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit temporarily lifted an injunction against wall construction, pending an appeal on the issue, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration could use military funds to begin building part of the border wall.

The Trump administration also enacted a policy (also known as the “Remain in Mexico” policy) to withhold asylum from illegal aliens who’ve entered a different country first and failed to claim asylum there. The policy ended “catch and release” that allowed illegal aliens to remain in the U.S. The Supreme Court ruled that the Department of Homeland Security could begin enforcing the asylum restriction nationwide while the case was still pending.

President Joe Biden suspended border wall construction and the Remain in Mexico policy. But a federal judge just ordered the Biden administration to enforce it in response to a lawsuit filed by border state Texas and Missouri. From Fox News:

The two Republican states had sought a preliminary injunction against the administration’s June 1 memo formally ending the policy — officially called the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP). They argued that the ending of the policy was in breach of the Administrative Procedures Act (APA).

The ruling by Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, orders the Biden administration “to enforce and implement MPP in good faith” until it has been “lawfully rescinded” in compliance with the APA, and until the federal government has enough detention capacity to detail all migrants subject to mandatory detention.