ACLU Comment on Supreme Court Biden v. Texas Ruling

June 30, 2022 10:00 am

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WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court today rejected Texas and Missouri’s claims that immigration law requires the Biden administration to continue operating the cruel “remain in Mexico” policy instituted by the Trump administration.

The policy forcibly returned people who came to the United States and sought asylum under U.S. law to Mexico to wait for an asylum hearing. In practice, most of those hearings never happened, and people were forced to wait for long periods in inhumane conditions and were subjected to kidnapping, rape, and murder on a massive scale.

In a 5-4 vote, the court sent Biden v. Texas — which centers on the Biden administration’s decision to end the so-called Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) — back to the trial court to consider the administration’s second memo, issued in October 2021, ending the policy.

The American Civil Liberties Union and partners challenged MPP, winning court orders finding the program unlawful. The Biden administration paused and then terminated the program. Texas and Missouri sued, asking a court to order the administration to restart MPP, which it did.

The ACLU and ACLU of Texas filed amicus briefs in the Fifth Circuit and Supreme Court.

Judy Rabinovitz, special counsel with the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, had the following reaction to today’s ruling:

“The Supreme Court was right to reject the spurious argument that this cruel policy is statutorily required.

“While, as noted in the decision, the case will return to the district court, the Biden administration can and should move forward swiftly to finally terminate ‘remain in Mexico’ for good — a result that has been long, and unjustly, delayed.”

Ruling: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/21-954_7l48.pdf

Statement: https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-comment-supreme-court-biden-v-texas-ruling

Biden v. Texas is part of the ACLU’s Joan and Irwin Jacobs Supreme Court Docket.

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