Joe Biden faced another blow in the southern border crisis when an appeals court ruled Monday the administration cannot end the program r...
Joe Biden faced another blow in the southern border crisis when an appeals court ruled Monday the administration cannot end the program requiring migrants to wait in Mexico while their asylum claims are processed in the U.S.
'[The Department of Homeland Security] claims the power to implement a massive policy reversal — affecting billions of dollars and countless people — simply by typing out a new Word document and posting it on the internet,' the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in a Monday night ruling.
The 117-page opinion added: 'DHS has come nowhere close to shouldering its heavy burden to show that it can make law in a vacuum.'
Earlier in December, Biden was forced to restart the Migrant Protection Program (MPP) – more commonly referred to as the Remain in Mexico policy – after stopping it shortly after taking office in January.
Texas and Missouri sued the administration over Biden stopping the program and a federal judge ruled it had to be reinstated. In compliance with that order, the administration started sending asylum seekers back to Mexico last week.
Biden quickly re-issued a memo terminating MPP hoping it would overcome the legal challenges.
The conservative-leaning 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, however, was not convinced by the new memo and rejected the attempt to once again end the Remain in Mexico policy.
Migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. will need to wait in Mexico, a new court ruling reiterated on Monday as it upheld Trump-era Remain in Mexico policy. Here migrants rest in Mexico City on December 13 during their journey north to the U.S.
Joe Biden tried to stop the Migrant Protection Program in January, but a court ruled in early December it needed to be reinstated. A second attempt to issue a memo ending MPP was struck down by the 5th Circuit Court on Monday
The 2019 policy requires that migrants seeking asylum wait in Mexico for a court date rather than being allowed to wait in the U.S. Migrants requesting asylum could wait between weeks and years for a court date.
Migrants have continued to flood over the southern border in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic and Biden has struggled to quell the flow even when saying the border is 'closed.'
Since taking office, Customs and Border Protection has encountered more than 1.6 million migrants at the southern border.
Despite being at a loss for a solution to the southern border crisis, administration officials have slammed the MPP as 'flawed' as it remains one of the only policies that keeps illegal immigrants out of the U.S.
DHS said Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas believes the policy 'has endemic flaws, imposed unjustifiable human costs, pulled resources and personnel away from other priority efforts, and failed to address the root causes of irregular migration.'
Children get water and snacks in Mexico City on Monday as migrants continue their trek to seek asylum in the U.S.
Central American migrants flock to the Casa Peregrino in Mexico City on Wednesday. They will head to refugee support offices to try and obtain a permit to stay in Mexico longer after seeing difficulties of other migrants after entering the U.S. during the coronavirus pandemic
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki described the program earlier this month as 'deeply flawed.'
'We're working to implement [it] under the court order,' she added even as DHS was issuing a different memo to end the policy.
Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris is looking to flood money into Central America in her most high profile role as 'border czar' where she is addressing the 'root causes' of the border crisis.
During Joe Biden's time in office, Customs and Border Protection has encountered more than $1.6 million migrants at the southern border with Mexico
Harris announced Monday $540 million in new private industry investments in the Northern Triangle.
The vice president attracted seven new companies and organizations to invest in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras in her effort to improve economic conditions and weed out corruption.
These new commitments include PepsiCo and PriceSmart. Some existing and expanded investments are coming from Mastercard, Microsoft and Nespresso.
In March, Biden tapped Harris as his 'border czar' to address one of the biggest issues facing the administration in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
The vice president's office quickly rebranded this position as addressing the 'root causes' of migration by improving conditions in Central American countries, rather than stopping the flow of illegal immigration once it reaches the southern border.
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