Texas Gov Greg Abbott Responds To SCOTUS Ruling On Remain In Mexico Policy

On Thursday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott responded to the Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling in Biden v. Texas that the Biden administration could end the former Trump administration’s Migrant Protection Protocol (MPP), also known as the “remain in Mexico” policy, which requires asylum seekers to stay in Mexico while they wait for a court hearing.

“The ruling in Biden v. Texas was the latest chapter in the tug-of-war over the policy, formally known as the Migrant Protection Protocol, since the Trump administration announced it in 2018,” SCOTUSblog explained. “The justices allowed the Trump administration to begin enforcing the policy after a federal district judge blocked it, and a few months later the justices agreed to review a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit holding that the policy likely violated both federal immigration and international law. The justices dismissed that case last year, however, after the Biden administration attempted to end the policy.”

“Texas and Missouri challenged the Biden administration’s efforts to terminate the policy. After a federal district judge in Texas ordered the federal government to reinstate the policy, both the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit and the Supreme Court rejected requests from the Biden administration to temporarily put the district judge’s ruling on hold, prompting the government to revive the policy while litigation continued,” SCOTUSblog added. “The court on Thursday agreed with the Biden administration that ending MPP would not violate federal law.”

In response to the ruling, Governor Abbott warned that ending the policy would only encourage further illegal immigration amid the record-breaking border crisis, and pointed to the recent tragedy in which dozens of migrants were found dead in a semitruck abandoned near San Antonio as evidence of the dangers of illegal immigration.

“The Supreme Court’s decision upholding DHS’s termination of the Remain-in-Mexico policy will only embolden the Biden Administration’s open border policies,” Abbott said. “More than fifty people recently died in a trailer—people who were allowed to cross our border illegally because of President Biden’s policies. Reinstating and fully enforcing Remain-in-Mexico would deter thousands more migrants from making that deadly trek, and President Biden should take that simple step to secure the border because it is the only humane thing to do.”