A Supreme Court Ruling will allow the Biden administration to scrap the Trump-era policy commonly referred to as “Remain in Mexico.”
The program known as the Migrant Protection Protocols allowed for migrants to wait outside of the U.S. while their case was considered.
Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote the majority opinion, said the law clearly allowed for discretion and would equally allow for the current administration to not use it.
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich had joined other states to sue the Biden administration to force it to remain.
Brnovich argued that allowing those seeking asylum to stay in the U.S. would incentivize people to come here illegally.
Brnovich had lost another case this year to try to force the president to resume construction of the border wall using environmental laws.
The Migrant Protection Protocols is a deterrent policy to prevent chaos on the U.S.-Mexico border, which gets then used as political fodder by Republicans and Democrats.
Muzaffar Chishti is a senior fellow with Migration Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. He said the U.S. won’t get total control of the border without a well-functioning way to process migrants.
“Which allows people to come seek asylum, if they are eligible, and doesn’t allow them to stay in the country for prolonged periods, if they are not eligible,” he said.
Chishti said Remain in Mexico did not create order at the border because the administrative barrier did not neutralize the desperation of migrants.
