A ruling this week preventing the Biden administration from unwinding a Trump-era program that kept migrants in Mexico for their immigration hearings marks the latest legal turmoil for the Biden administration, just as it stares down a potentially seismic end to Title 42 expulsions.
A Texas federal court this week paused the ending of the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) — a Trump-era policy that involved migrants being returned to Mexico while their cases went through the system. It saw tent courts set up along the border as part of an effort to stop the release of migrants into the interior.
The Biden administration said the policy was cruel and ineffective, forcing migrants to camp out in Mexico — and on taking office the president immediately moved to scrap it. The ending of the policy in early 2021 coincided with a massive surge in illegal migration at the border — a surge that hit record levels and is still ongoing.
A lawsuit from Texas and Missouri claimed that the administration’s unwinding of the policy was unlawful, and the administration was forced to reinstate it. The case went up to the U.S. Supreme Court, which found in favor of the administration and ruled that the lower court should now look for the first time at whether the Biden administration’s Oct. 29, 2021, memo terminating the policy was lawful under the Administrative Procedures Act.
District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled on that question this week and barred the administration from unwinding the program. A DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital on Saturday that DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was “well within his authority to terminate the prior administration’s program.”
“We disagree with this decision and are determining next steps,” the spokesperson said.
The confusion surrounding MPP is not the biggest question mark over the administration’s immigration policy. That belongs to Title 42, which is currently scheduled to end on Wednesday, which many fear will unleash a new wave of migration into the U.S.
By Adam Shaw for FOX News
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