The Supreme Court ruled Thursday, June 30, for Biden administration to terminate the Trump-era immigration policy that required asylum seekers in the United States and coming from the southern border to wait in Mexico while applications were processed. 

The judges’ 5-4 decision in favor of the government dealt with the “Remain in Mexico” policy in force under Donald Trump. On the understanding that the policy’s termination does not violate federal immigration law, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the decision accompanied by fellow Conservative Brett Kavanaugh, as well as the court's three liberal judges: Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

Under Former President Trump’s 2019 “Remain in Mexico” policy, more than 70,000 asylum-seekers were returned from the U.S. to Mexico. “The program, formally called the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), marked an extreme departure from the previous practice of allowing those fleeing violence and persecution to cross the border and remain in the U.S. while they apply for asylum, a process that can take years to complete”, according to The Hill.

According to Judge John Roberts' ruling, “the law plainly confers a discretionary authority to return aliens to Mexico during the pendency of their immigration proceedings,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority. […] The use of the word ‘may’ […] thus makes clear that contiguous-territory return is a tool that the Secretary ‘has the authority, but not the duty’ to use”. 

Immigration advocates had long pleaded with both Trump and Biden to scrap the policy, noting that vulnerable migrants, who are not from Mexico and may not even be Spanish speakers, faced dangerous conditions as they waited months on end for any movement in their cases.

President Joe Biden suspended the program on his first day in office in January 2021. But lower courts have ordered the policy reinstated twice, first in June last year and then again in October, in response to a lawsuit by Texas and Missouri, led by the Republicans.

“The core of the legal fight was about whether immigration authorities, with far less detention capacity than needed, had to send people to Mexico or whether they had the discretion under federal law to release asylum-seekers into the United States while they awaited their hearings”, according to Latino Rebels.

Due to the lower courts’ decisions, Biden administration has been re-instituting Remain in Mexico with some 4,000 migrants having been removed to the country since November 2021, according to the American Immigration Council.

According to The Hill, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) stated: “I’m glad the Supreme Court is paving the way for the United States to finally revoke this xenophobic policy. […] With today’s decision, we must commit ourselves to doing the difficult work ahead to meet our domestic and international legal obligations with respect to asylum seekers and to repair our longstanding status as a beacon of hope and opportunity for those fleeing from violence and persecution. Ensuring a final end to Title 42 is critical to meeting those obligations”.

“Texas-based U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee, sided with the challengers and blocked Biden’s effort to rescind the program. The judge concluded that federal law requires that the federal government either detain asylum-seekers at the southern border or return them to Mexico, effectively whittling away at presidential discretion. The Supreme Court’s Thursday decision reversed this determination, which had been affirmed by a lower federal appeals court”.