SCOTUS Takes Up Remain in Mexico Case

Washington – Today the Supreme Court granted the Biden administration’s request to review the Fifth Circuit’s decision in Biden v. Texas, a case brought by the states of Texas and Missouri challenging the administration’s termination of the Trump-era Remain in Mexico program. Remain in Mexico forced asylum seekers back over the border to await their U.S. immigration court dates in some of the most dangerous cities in the world. The Biden administration terminated the program in June 2021, citing its dire due process and humanitarian consequences for asylum seekers who routinely fell prey to violence in Mexico and were deprived of any meaningful opportunity to pursue their asylum claims. The Fifth Circuit decision upheld a lower court injunction ordering the administration to revive Remain in Mexico.

The Biden administration relaunched Remain in Mexico in December 2021 to comply with the court order, but inexplicably expanded the program’s scope to include nationalities that were not subject to Remain in Mexico even under Trump. Though the administration has promised a more humane version of the policy, human rights investigators report that even people who have experienced severe violence in Mexico are being returned under Remain in Mexico 2.0. In its first two months of implementation, 88 percent of asylum seekers placed in the program have expressed fear of return to Mexico. Border officials have rejected 75 percent of these claims, despite well-documented dangers facing asylum seekers in Mexico.

“We are glad the Supreme Court is treating the Biden administration’s appeal with the urgency it deserves,” said Melissa Crow, Director of Litigation at the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS) and co-counsel in both Immigrant Defenders Law Center et al. v. Mayorkas and Innovation Law Lab v. Mayorkas, two pending challenges to Remain in Mexico. “The lower court decision ordering the reinstatement of Remain in Mexico grossly distorted the law and the facts and has fueled chaos and suffering at the border. The Biden administration must continue to defend its decision to terminate this heinous policy and end it once and for all. But the Texas injunction does not preclude the administration from providing redress to individuals subjected to the original version of Remain in Mexico, who remain in legal limbo outside the United States. The Biden administration has a moral and legal imperative to bring those left behind in its Remain in Mexico wind-down process to safety.”

“MPP was such a lie because I never had any opportunity to present my case,” said Gabriela Doe, a plaintiff in the Immigrant Defenders Law Center case. “I am so frustrated and scared, and I am so afraid that something will happen to me here in Mexico. This has been so difficult for me, especially since I am just trying to protect my young daughter and have nevertheless seen her suffer because of MPP. This has been the terror of our lives, and I just want our lives to continue and to free my daughter of this agony. We are in agony every day, being in limbo and not knowing what we can do.”

“I would never wish this experience on anyone,” said Francisco Doe, a plaintiff in the Immigrant Defenders Law Center case. “It has been so difficult since the first day, when they just left us here to survive by ourselves. People don’t know about the suffering we’ve experienced here. I just want to be safe and reunited with my family in the U.S.”

“Today’s Supreme Court decision affirms the Biden administration’s responsibility to terminate the destructive Remain in Mexico policy, but even this critical step is not enough,” said Amber Qureshi, Staff Attorney at the National Immigration Project. “The Remain in Mexico policy forced tens of thousands of people into precarious and life threatening situations with no recourse. The government cannot shut its eyes to the inhumanity and suffering it has manufactured; it must also ensure that every single individual harmed through this policy has a meaningful opportunity to pursue their asylum claims.”

“The Biden administration pledged to make ‘humanitarian improvements’ to MPP 2.0, including affirmative screenings of individuals who may fear harm in Mexico. But there is no reforming a policy designed to shut the door to people seeking safety,” said Kate Clark, Senior Director of Immigration Services for Jewish Family Service of San Diego. “MPP is unacceptable, inhumane, and as the Administration has already stated, ‘no amount of resources can sufficiently fix’ the cruel policy. This continued lawsuit is necessary to ensure migrants receive due process and are able to seek their legal right to asylum in the U.S.”

“The Remain in Mexico policy, since its inception under the Trump Administration, was meant to keep Black and Brown people out of the United States,” said Tess Hellgren, Deputy Legal Director for Innovation Law Lab. “It is an illegal policy and it is a racist policy. It is a xenophobic policy and it is a cruel policy. First it was a Trump policy, and now it is a Biden policy. That must end, for the sake of the families who had the courage to save their lives and seek protection in the United States.”

“There is absolutely no humane way to implement the cruel ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy,” said Noah Gottschalk, Global Policy Lead for Oxfam America. “President Biden was right to end it, and now the Supreme Court must act to ensure not one more asylum seeker is harmed by this illegal and racist policy.”

“We are glad to hear that the Supreme Court will review the State of Texas’s politically-motivated challenge to the Biden Administration’s choice to treat asylum seekers with dignity by ending MPP”, said Erin Thorn Vela, Senior Attorney at the Texas Civil Rights Project. “Let’s be clear, the opportunity before the Supreme Court now is to uphold the values of human life and dignity that our country professes to hold dear by striking down the previous ruling, which commands outright cruelty.”

“We are pleased the Supreme Court has agreed to hear Biden v. Texas — a case with far reaching implications not just on immigration, but also on the ability of the Executive Branch to enact their own foreign and domestic policy agendas,” said Karen Tumlin, founder and director of Justice Action Center. “Remain in Mexico has been an unmitigated humanitarian disaster, one that Biden himself promised to end early on in his presidential campaign. Worse, the federal courts below issued an extreme order essentially mandating detention for asylum seekers, something that has never been considered by any administration, including Trump’s. The Supreme Court should uphold both law and morality and reject the lower courts’ outlandish orders.”

“The Supreme Court must be decisive in ending the Remain in Mexico policy once and for all,” said Daniella Burgi-Palomino, LAWG Co-director. “The human lives that have been harmed by this policy is evidence enough that this policy should have never been reinstated. We must move away from the cruelty and inhumanity of sending those seeking safety at our borders away. There are better alternatives to process and welcome people with dignity in a way that truly represents who we are.”

“Every day, migrants are harmed by Remain in Mexico and Title 42, two xenophobic policies that senselessly endanger asylum seekers and violate their rights,” said Jennifer Babaie, U.S. Southern Border Project Director at the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP). “We are hopeful that the Supreme Court will recognize the urgency of the situation and ensure that the Biden administration has no more excuses not to end Remain in Mexico once and for all.”

“As Remain in Mexico 2.0 has already demonstrated, no amount of reform can make an inhumane policy more humane,” stated the Quixote Center. “Remain in Mexico is as much a racist and xenophobic policy as it is illegal. We remain hopeful of the Supreme Court’s ruling, and in the meantime, we call upon the Biden administration to take every step possible to restore asylum at the border and uphold the rights of all migrants.”

“Remain in Mexico strips asylum seekers of their rights under law to seek protection in the United States,” said Anna Gallagher, Executive Director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc., or CLINIC. “Under this policy, thousands of men, women and children have been forced to live in miserable conditions and have faced deprivation of basic humanitarian assistance, assaults, and, in many cases, death while desperately waiting to seek asylum in the United States. The Supreme Court has rightfully placed this urgent matter on an expedited timeline. The dignity and safety of vulnerable people depends on it.”

“Remain in Mexico has led to untold human suffering, including serious harm to survivors of gender-based violence rightfully seeking asylum,” said Rachel Sheridan, Litigation Counsel with the Tahirih Justice Center. “The reimplementation of Remain in Mexico, at the behest of an error-ridden decision by the lower court, continued this racist, cruel policy which puts survivors at serious risk of kidnapping, rape, and other atrocities. We hope the Supreme Court’s quick review of this decision will at long last end this inhumane policy and restore access to asylum for survivors.”

“We welcome the Supreme Court’s review of the cruel ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy, and its expedited timeline,” said Basma Alawee, Campaign Manager of We Are All America. “People who are fleeing for their lives have a right to seek asylum in the United States, and efforts to exclude them from the country and place them in dangerous and vulnerable situations are unlawful, inhumane, and racist. In addition to defending the termination of the ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy before the Supreme Court, the Biden administration has a moral responsibility to ensure that everyone excluded from seeking asylum due to the program’s previous version can exercise their human right to seek asylum.”

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