The US Supreme Court on Monday certified its month-old ruling allowing the administration of US President Joe biden to end a cornerstone border policy of the administration of former US president Donald Trump to make asylum seekers wait in Mexico for hearings in US immigration court, a pro forma act that has drawn attention amid near-total silence from the White House about when, how and even whether it will dismantle the policy.
The two-word docket entry read “judgement issued” to record that justices voted 5-4 in a ruling issued on June 30 that the Biden administration could scrap the “Remain in Mexico” policy, overruling a lower court that forced the policy to be reinstated in December last year.
US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said shortly after the Supreme Court ruling that justices would need to communicate the decision to the lower court, which, in turn, should lift the order to keep the policy in place in a lawsuit filed by Texas.
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Beyond that, administration officials have said little, including whether any of the thousands of people subject to the policy since December last year would be allowed to enter and remain in the US while their cases are being considered in immigration court.
The White House and the US Department of Homeland Security had no immediate comment on the Supreme Court certification; the US Department of Justice declined comment. Officials in Mexico had no immediate comment.
About 70,000 migrants were subject to the policy, known officially as “Migrant Protection Protocols,” from when Trump introduced it in January 2019 until Biden suspended it on his first day in office in January last year, fulfilling a campaign promise. Many were allowed to return to the US to pursue their cases during the early months of Biden’s presidency.
Nearly 5,800 people have been subject to the policy from December last year through June, figures released on Friday showed.
Nicaraguans accounted for the largest number, with others from Cuba, Colombia and Venezuela.
A sign posted last week at the entrance to the Salvation Army migrant shelter in Tijuana, Mexico, by the UN’s International Organization for Migration appeared to best capture the public understanding of the policy’s status: “Wait for official information! The Remain in Mexico program remains in effect. The United States government will inform you of any changes.”
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