Supreme Court blocks Biden effort to end Trump ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy

(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court Tuesday night rejected an effort by the Biden administration to formally discontinue the Trump administration’s controversial 2018 policy forcing asylum seekers along the southern U.S. border to remain in Mexico while awaiting a hearing on their claims.

In a single-page order, the court sided with Texas and a group of Republican-led states which claimed President Joe Biden did not lawfully cancel the policy and in so doing encouraged the record surge of migrants seen in recent months.

The vote was 6-3, pitting the court’s conservative majority against three liberal dissenters, Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

The court’s majority said the administration “failed to show a likelihood of success” for its argument that a Department of Homeland Security memorandum rescinding the so-called Migrant Protection Protocols was not arbitrary and capricious.

Earlier Tuesday, the administration told the court that forcing them to reinstate the MPP policy “would intrude on the Executive’s immigration-enforcement and foreign-affairs authorities by disrupting border operations, diverting scarce resources from other urgent priorities, and intruding into the nation’s relations with Mexico and other foreign partners.”

Those arguments failed to persuade the court’s conservatives, who similarly blocked several administrative policy changes sought by the Trump White House which were deemed to run afoul of federal law requiring that agencies provide public notice, accept input and consider the ramifications of an executive decision before completing it.

This is a developing news story. Please check back for updates.

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