Joe Biden and his administration wrote in a statement to the courts this week that they plan to reinstate President Trump’s Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), more commonly known as the “Remain in Mexico” policy.
The policy will take effect mid-November if the Mexican government agrees to the terms of the policy.
According to a statement released by Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Biden officials have taken action to appeal the court decision requiring them to reinstate MPP.
“DHS issued a memorandum in June 2021 that terminated MPP,” the agency tweeted. “However, a Texas district court vacated the termination memo and issued an injunction that requires DHS to work in good faith to re-start MPP. DHS appealed the injunction.”
In August, President Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy was ordered to be re-implemented by a Texas federal judge. MPP was originally implemented by Trump in 2019, which was widely considered, by conservatives, to be a foreign policy triumph. Trump’s policy ended the previous administration’s lax immigration protocols, such as “catch-and-release,” where illegal immigrants would be released into U.S. communities, with no way of tracking them, while awaiting their appointed hearings in the immigration courts.
In June, President Trump slammed the Biden administration’s initial decision to end MPP. Trump stated that the “Remain in Mexico” policy had produced the most successful border security programs anyone had ever implemented.
“The Biden Administration’s disastrous decision to formally end the ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy is proof that their objective is to eliminate the U.S. border entirely and flood the country with so many illegal aliens that every community is overwhelmed,” Trump said.
The United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released data pertaining to the conditions at the southern border, revealing that in July alone, there were over 200,000 migrant encounters, a record high. Shortly after this report, Texas courts ruled to reinstate the “Remain in Mexico” policy, directly challenging the Biden administration’s attempts to remove it.
In October, the Trump Administration scored another legal victory in the Supreme Court when it ordered lower courts across the nation to remand previous rulings regarding border wall policies, which had initially stalled construction of the border wall.
DHS revealed in a statement that discussions with the Mexican government are ongoing, however Mexico has not yet made a decision “pursuant to any re-implementation of MPP.”
A return to the “Remain in Mexico” policy is a blow to the Biden administration and a happy victory for President Trump and his supporters who have feared that Biden’s chaotic open border policies could be permanent.