Kevin McGill - The Associated Press
A federal appeals court on Thursday night refused to delay the implementation of a judge's order that forces the Joe Biden government to reinstate the
Stay in Mexico program
, a policy of former President Donald Trump so that thousands of people have to wait in Mexico while they await asylum in the United States.
Biden
had suspended this program on his first day in office,
and the Department of Homeland Security said it would finalize it in June, according to court documents.
But US District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk last week ordered the program to be reinstated this Saturday.
The Government appealed, and the court has indicated that it must reinstate it as ordered by the judge.
A judge orders the reinstatement of the immigration program 'Stay in Mexico', created by Trump
Aug. 16, 202100: 26
The Biden Administration appealed to the Fifth Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans and requested a delay in the re-implementation of the program, formally known as Migrant Protection Protocols, which was pending appeal.
[The United States definitively ends Trump's "Stay in Mexico" policy, which returned asylum seekers to that country]
The Administration argued in legal documents that
the president has "clear authority to determine immigration policy"
and that Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, had discretion to decide whether to return asylum seekers to Mexico.
Attorneys for the Texas states said Missouri, which challenged
Stay in Mexico's
suspension
,
opposed the suspension of Kacsmaryk's order.
They said the Biden Administration had failed to go through proper procedures to terminate the policy.
And they argued that after it was implemented, immigrants without legitimate asylum claims had begun to return to their home countries on a voluntary basis.
Central American migrants, who were airlifted from Brownsville to El Paso, Texas, and expelled from the United States under Title 42, walk into Mexico over the Lerdo Stanton International Bridge, seen from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, on August 17, 2021. Jose Luis González / Reuters
A three-judge panel for the Fifth Circuit denied the suspension of Kacsmaryk's order Thursday night.
“Even if the Government were correct that long-term compliance with the district court's injunction would cause irreparable harm, it does not present any reason to believe that it cannot meet the district court's good faith requirement while the prosecution proceeds. appeal, ”the ruling said.
[“They kidnapped us on the way to court”: 'Stay in Mexico' is over but the agonizing wait continues for thousands of immigrants]
The ruling affects thousands of asylum seekers with active cases
that were subject to the program of permanence in Mexico.
Kacsmaryk was nominated for federal court by Trump. The Fifth Circuit court that ruled Thursday night includes two Trump nominees, Andrew Oldham and Cory Wilson, along with Jennifer Walker Elrod, nominated to the court of appeals by former Republican President George W. Bush (2001-2009). .
