Mitali Palnitkar
Published On: December 30, 2021 at 14:51 IST
On December 29, 2021, the US Supreme Court was asked by the Biden Administration whether to continue the implementation of a policy put in place by former President Donald Trump which compelled several migrants to wait in Mexico for the resolution of their US Asylum Cases.
The policy was implemented by Trump in 2019 and is referred to as “Remain in Mexico” but is officially called as the “Migrant Protection Protocols” (MPP). Biden attempted to scrap this policy in January 2021 immediately after taking office as the President but a Federal Judge Ruled that the policy must be reinstated after Texas and Missouri sued.
Under the policy, migrants who seek Asylum are made to wait for weeks or sometimes years for a US Court date. They have to wait in Mexico instead of allowing them to wait in US.
Immigrant Advocates stated that the migrants who get stuck in border cities face GRAVE dangers like kidnappings.
After the Ruling of the Federal Court to reinstate the MPP policy, a memo terminating the policy was reissued by the Biden Administration with the hopes of overcoming the Legal challenges.
The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals which leans on the Conservative side stated in its Ruling of December 13, 2021 that it was not convinced by the new memo. It also stated that simply posting a new Word document on the internet was insufficient.
The Supreme Court was asked by the Justice Department of Biden whether the implementation of policy shall be continued and if the Appeals Court had erred in drawing a conclusion that the new memo lacked a Legal effect.