A Texas federal judge has granted a stay for the Department of Homeland Security to stop it from ending Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” program.
U.S. District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk stated in his decision that “this action has a complicated procedural history, having been from this Court to The Fifth Circuit, to Supreme Court, then back to this Court upon remand.”
The Trump-appointed judge likened the procedural wrangling over the policy to The Hobbit. “Or ‘there and back again,” he wrote. ” See J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again (1937).”
It’s quite a mess. Biden has been there, back to the Supreme Court, and in between, appellate courts have debated whether the program should end.
Fox News:
Migrants not enrolled in MPP must be handled under existing legal authorities. However, Biden issued an executive directive directing Mayorkas, to review the program and decide whether it should be terminated or modified.
The State of Texas brought suit against the move. They claimed that the memorandum was in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). This law allows an alien who arrives from a foreign country to be returned to the territory following a court hearing.
An additional provision in the INA states that if an alien applying for an admission is not clear and beyond a reasonable doubt entitled to be admitted, he or she should be detained until a hearing may be held.
DHS has tried to terminate the program, but the courts have rejected them for various procedural reasons. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, for example, wrote a memo stating the reasons why the program should be ended. The Supreme Court sent the case back for Kacsmaryk to decide if the memo had been arbitrary or capricious.
This week Judge Kacsmaryk ruled that the court suspends or stays the Oct. 29 memoranda, and the previous June 1, 2021 decision from DHS to end MPP “until it can resolve the merits of Plaintiffs’ claims.”
Biden, then-candidate for the presidency, promised to end the program if elected. The Biden administration closed it down shortly after taking office and allowed those who were enrolled in the program to enter the U.S. Mayorkas claimed that the policy was cruel and ineffective.
Mexico did not care for the returned immigrants, making the policy “cruel” and ineffective. Asylum seekers were living in poverty and in danger of gang violence because Mexico failed its promises to them when Trump offered to allow them to remain in Mexico until their status was clear.
Biden may be secretly thanking Trump, Judge Kacsmaryk. He will need all the support he can to withstand the tsunami of human beings who will rush to the border on December 21st when Title 42 of the pandemic-era immigration policies end.
