The ruling showed the discontinuation of MPP ‘has contributed to the current border surge’
On Friday, a federal judged told the Biden admin that it needs to bring back and enforce the Trump policy Remain-in-Mexico. This came after a lawsuit from Missouri and Texas came out, and states the admin’s move to try and remove the policy did more damage, and was illegal.
The two Republican states had requested a preliminary injunction against the administration’s June first note officially ending the policy — called the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP). They stated that the ending of the policy was a violation of the Administrative Procedures Act (APA).
The ruling by Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, states the Biden admin needs to bring back and enforce MPP, until it has been lawfully rescinded in compliance with the APA. Also, until the federal government has enough detention capacity to detail all migrants subject to mandatory detention.
That said, it notes the injunction is narrow and also states: “Nothing in this injunction requires DHS to take any immigration or removal action nor withhold its statutory discretion towards any individual thatit would not otherwise take.”
However, the court has stayed the relevance of the opinion and order for seven days for the government to appeal it.
“My office has been leading the way nationally in fighting human trafficking, and the Biden Administration’s lax border policies increase the risk for human trafficking at the border and, in turn, in Missouri,” Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt said in a statement. “Today’s massive win was crucial – re-implementing the Migrant Protection Protocols will help secure the border and fight the scourge of human trafficking.”
MPP was created and grew in 2019 by the Trump administration and aided in sending migrants back to Mexico, rather than being let go into the U.S., as they waited for a court date.
The policy, in alliance with Mexico, resulted in court tents being put up along the border in places like Laredo, Texas, where migrants could enter shortly for their hearings before returning to Mexico.
The Trump administration stated that the policy ended “catch-and-release” — by which migrants were let go into the U.S. — which it saw as a main reason for drawing migrants north. Critics said the policy was unfair and could lead to migrants being put in harms way in camps along the border.
The Biden administration vowed to remove the policy and started processing migrants enrolled in MPP into the U.S. pretty much right after entering office. In June, it officially ended the program.
Missouri and Texas sued the administration alleging that ending the policy was both illegal, and that it caused more problems at border states and states deeper in the interior by encouraging migrants and therefore growing the crisis at the southern border.
“We are hopeful for a favorable ruling because it is clear that the Biden administration didn’t consider anything relevant to how it was working or notice and comment, and obviously we have a crisis at the border now,” Schmitt told Fox News in an interview last month. “Anyone who is paying attention knows we have a 21-year high in border crossings, drug traffickers, and human traffickers have been emboldened, and that affects not just Texas but states like Missouri.”
The lawsuit stated a lot of the migrants let go would commit crimes in their states, that it end up causing an increase in human trafficking, and that it would create higher costs for the states in areas like education and healthcare.
The ruling found that the termination of MPP “has contributed to the current border surge” and that DHS counsel had conceded as much. The judge also stated the increase in border apprehensions from fewer than 80,000 in January to about 173,000 in April when the lawsuit was filed. In July, there were more than 212,000 encounters at the border.