Justice Department Seeks Supreme Court Input on ‘Remain in Mexico’ Policy for Migrants

The Justice Department asked the U.S. Supreme Court late Friday to delay the reinstatement of a Trump administration policy that forced thousands to wait in Mexico while seeking asylum in the U.S.

U.S. District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk last week ordered that the program, informally known as “Remain in Mexico,” 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, pending appeal, but that was denied Thursday.

Formally known as the Migration Protection Protocols, the policy required tens of thousands of migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. to turn back to Mexico. It was meant to discourage asylum seekers {snip}

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The Biden administration argued in briefs that the president has “clear authority to determine immigration policy” and that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas had discretion in deciding whether to return asylum seekers to Mexico.

In its brief to the Supreme Court on Friday, the administration argued that the policy had been dormant for more than a year and that abruptly reinstating it “would prejudice the United States’ relations with vital regional partners, severely disrupt its operations at the southern border, and threaten to create a diplomatic and humanitarian crisis.”

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