CNN
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A federal judge in Texas has temporarily set aside the Biden administration’s recent attempt to end the so-called “Remain in Mexico” program.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk suspended the termination of the plan outlined in the October 2021 policy memo while litigation surrounding the memo continues.
The ruling marks a setback to President Joe Biden’s efforts to end a controversial Trump-era policy that sent certain non-Mexican citizens who entered the United States back to Mexico — rather than detaining them or releasing them to the United States — And their immigration process is still in progress.
The program, formally known as the Immigrant Protection Agreement, is separate from Title 42, which ends next week. The agency has been heavily criticized by public health experts and immigration advocates for essentially banning asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.
In June, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the Biden administration had the authority to terminate the program, rejecting arguments from Republican states that immigration laws require the program to remain in place and scoring an initial victory for Biden’s immigration agenda efforts. Reverse Trump’s tough immigration policies.
But the Supreme Court sent the case back to Kacsmaryk to consider whether the rollout of the October 2021 memo complied with the Administrative Procedure Act — which requires agencies to take certain procedural steps when implementing policies — and how it might undo the immigrant protection agreement .
The program, first implemented in 2019 under then-President Donald Trump, has been criticized by immigrant rights advocates who say it is inhumane and that it exposes asylum seekers who make credible claims to dangerous and dangerous conditions in Mexico. under dirty conditions.
Prior to the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” program, no other administration had required non-Mexican asylum seekers to remain in Mexico during U.S. immigration court proceedings. Biden campaigned to end the policy, saying it “goes against everything we stand for as a nation of immigrants.”
During his administration, Biden has grappled with a growing number of border crossings against the backdrop of mass immigration in the Western Hemisphere. Still, the Department of Homeland Security maintains that the “Remain in Mexico” policy has come at a high human cost and has been an inefficient use of resources.
This story has been updated with more details.