Fifth Circuit Upholds Remain in Mexico Program, Rebukes Biden Administration’s Border Policies as “Misenforcement”
Government Relations
On Tuesday, December 14, 2021, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Biden administration’s bid to reverse a district court order requiring the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) reinstate the Migrant Protection Protocols (“MPP”), better known as the Remain in Mexico program. MPP, which was implemented for the first time in 2019 but authorized by statute in 1996, allows DHS to require certain illegal border crossers to wait in Mexico pending their immigration proceedings rather than be detained or released in the United States.
The states of Texas and Missouri challenged the government’s suspension and later termination of MPP in federal court. The program cut off the most significant pull-factor for illegal border crossing and asylum fraud: the likelihood of being released into the United States. Illegal border crossings fell sharply after the Trump administration implemented the policy in 2019.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed that in terminating MPP, DHS violated both the Administrative Procedures Act (“APA”) and violated Congress’s statutory mandates in the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”). As a result, the Court of Appeals preserved the district court order, which prohibits DHS from terminating the program until the government is both able to fully comply with procedures required by federal law and is able to regain control of the border.
https://www.fairus.org/legislation/presidential-administration/border-security/fifth-circuit-upholds-remain-mexico-program
