Freedom

by Victor I. Nava, Overnight News Editor

The Biden administration is suspending the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” immigration policy following a ruling by a U.S. district court judge on Monday.

The Department of Homeland Security said on Monday that it will no longer enroll migrants in the Migrant Protection Protocols, the name of the “Remain in Mexico” policy, and that all people in the protocols in Mexico will be disenrolled when they return to the United States for their next scheduled court date.

“DHS is committed to ending the court-ordered implementation of MPP in a quick, and orderly, manner,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement on Monday. “Individuals are no longer being newly enrolled into MPP, and individuals currently in MPP in Mexico will be disenrolled when they return for their next scheduled court date. Individuals disenrolled from MPP will continue their removal proceedings in the United States.”

“As Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas has said, MPP has endemic flaws, imposes unjustifiable human costs, and pulls resources and personnel away from other priority efforts to secure our border,” DHS added.

The Supreme Court cleared the way for the end of “Remain in Mexico” after a June 30 ruling, which took effect on Aug. 1, and the statement from the DHS comes after a one-page order issued by U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk on Monday set aside a ruling he issued last year requiring the Biden administration to reinstate “Remain in Mexico.”

President Joe Biden had initially attempted to end MPP on his first day in office in January 2021.

Launched in 2019 by former President Donald Trump, “Remain in Mexico” required non-Mexican migrants to wait for their asylum hearings in Mexico, rather than in the U.S.

In the first 17 full months of Biden’s presidency, U.S. border officials have stopped 3.1 million people attempting to cross the southern border illegally.