Biden has been asked by the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the “Stay in Mexico” case

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Biden administration on Wednesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court whether it should continue to implement a Trump-era policy that has forced tens of thousands of migrants in Mexico to resolve U.S. asylum cases.

Democratic President Joe Biden tried to override his former Republican policy, often referred to as “staying in Mexico,” immediately after taking office in January. But after Texas and Missouri sued, a federal judge ruled that he should be reinstated, and an appeals court agreed earlier this month.

Under the 2019 policy set by former President Donald Trump, officially known as the Migrant Protection Protocol (MPP), asylum seekers have to wait weeks and sometimes years to get a U.S. court date in Mexico instead of waiting for hearings in the United States. States.

Biden condemned the campaign’s policy and advocates of immigration said migrants stuck in dangerous border towns had been subjected to kidnappings and other threats.

After a federal court ruled that the MPP should be reinstated, the Biden administration rejected a memorandum that it had reissued in hopes of overcoming the legal issues.

But the U.S. Court of Appeals, which has a conservative leanings, was not persuaded by the new notes, and in its Dec. 13 ruling, it said that “writing a new Word document and publishing it on the Internet” was not enough.

Biden’s Justice Department asked the Supreme Court whether it should continue to implement the policy and whether the appellate court erred in concluding that the new note had no legal effect.