Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Supreme Court Allows End of “Remain in Mexico” Policy, U.S. Imperialism Continues

The Supreme Court will allow the Biden administration to end Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy. The decision is a needed reprieve for asylum seekers, but make no mistake: it is nowhere near enough.

Emma Lee

July 4, 2022
Facebook Twitter Share
Remain in Mexico Policy (August, 2019)
Photo: Veronica G. Cardenas / AP

The United States Supreme Court has decided to allow the Biden administration to end a Trump-era immigration policy according to an opinion delivered by Chief Justice John Roberts on Thursday. The program formally known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), frequently called the “Remain in Mexico” policy, requires migrants arriving at the southern border to stay outside the United States while waiting for the sluggish U.S. immigration system to process their asylum hearings. The Biden administration has yet to end the program.

According to Human Rights Watch, more than 71,000 asylum-seekers had been sent to Mexico under the program from January 2019 to January 2021, including tens of thousands of children and people with disabilities or chronic health conditions. In these camps, vulnerable migrants were frequently victims of rape, kidnapping, torture and murder. Dozens of investigations  into human rights abuses under the “Remain in Mexico” program have been initiated.

The Supreme Court issued its decision days after 53 migrants died from heat stroke and heat exhaustion in an abandoned tractor-trailer outside San Antonio, Texas. It also comes in the aftermath of the Court’s 6-3 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, setting trigger laws into effect across the country that restrict abortion or effectively ban it altogether.

Biden’s campaign promises included vows to reverse Trump’s harsh immigration policies, but these words have proven to be performative and frail. On the first day of his presidency, he moved to end the “Remain in Mexico” program through a termination memo. After a brief period during which the policy was not enforced (deportations allegedly recommenced in August, when the Supreme Court refused to block a court ruling reinstating the policy), a federal appeals court upheld and reinstated the program in December. 

Biden not only complied with the federal court order, but expanded eligibility for deportation to include anyone from countries in he Western Hemisphere other than Mexico. Under Trump, only people from Spanish-speaking countries and Brazilians were eligible to be sent to Mexico. Under Biden’s expanded reinstatement, however, U.S. border officials could send back Haitian migrants, something that generally did not happen in years prior. In September and October alone, the Biden administration sent back or detained thousands of Haitians through Title 42. Thousands of migrants died and were subject to human rights abuses due to the administration’s passive compliance. It’s important to note that U.S. intervention has contributed to much of the political instability in Haiti, as well as every other Latin American and Caribbean country, from which many of these asylum seekers originate.

The Supreme Court’s decision in Biden v. Texas is undoubtedly a welcome reprieve for the ongoing stream of asylum seekers that are looking for  refuge in the United States. But this decision should not be mistaken for progressive immigration policy; it’s below even the bare minimum. Even those asylum seekers who are able to wait in the United States are still extremely vulnerable and face enormous challenges, such as seemingly interminable wait times for work permits and asylum hearings. One in six immigrants in pending asylum cases are waiting for their next hearing to be scheduled. The average wait time is now 1,751 days, or nearly  five years. These obstacles pose enormous challenges, not only to finding work to support oneself and one’s family, but to have any semblance of stability and mental health.

We must not forget the countless other ways that the Biden administration and the Supreme Court have continued or exacerbated the oppression of migrants. On Saturday, the Biden administration ended its limits on immigration arrests in order to comply with a Texas federal court ruling that essentially gives full discretion to ICE agents across the United States on which immigrants they should, and should not, detain. Earlier this month in Egbert v. Boule, the Supreme Court made it more difficult for victims of abuse by border patrol agents to receive compensation in court, chipping away at the already treacherously low accountability standards for border patrol agents and other federal law enforcement agents. In the words of Justice Clarence Thomas, no court is ever “competent to authorize a damages action” against border patrol agents.

Moreover, the recent abortion bans — an attack on the basic human right to healthcare — will disproprtionately affect immigrant women and LGBTQ+ folks, as it wil be more difficult for these populations to travel out of state to access abortions. The laws will also put them at greater risk for deportation if they do decide to take the risk to travel for these procedures. 

Beyond abortion, bodily autonomy has been stripped from marginalized populations by the U.S. government as long as the country has existed. The United States has a long history of forced sterilizations, targeting Black women, people with disabilities, and prison populations. The Supreme Court itself was responsible for over 70,000 forced sterilizations of people with disabilities. Today, immigrants continue to be forcibly sterilized in ICE detention facilities.

There is mass disillusionment in the U.S. government and its institutions; many are waking up to the fact that the Democrats, who had many chances to codify Roe into law, are not merely incompetent, but actively complicit in the oppression of the masses. As these institutions continue to offer concessions in an attempt to regain legitimacy and suppress class struggle, we cannot expect nor rely on the political elite of either capitalist party — whose power is based on imperialism, economic warfare, and the stratification of workers through borders and racism — to defend the rights of working-class and oppressed people. Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats represent our interests, and have shown time and again their reticence to defend, much less expand, our basic human rights. And whether or not the Supreme Court deals out marginally “progressive” policies, it remains an undemocratic institution that functions to uphold the interests of the ruling class and imperialism. We must say it loudly and clearly in our communities, and in our workplaces, and in the streets: Abolish the Supreme Court. Let Them All In.

Facebook Twitter Share

Emma Lee

Emma is a special education teacher in New York City.

United States

The Deadliest Year for U.S.-Mexico Border Crossings Occurred during Biden’s Administration

The humanitarian crisis at the border was created by capitalism. Voting for a lesser evil won’t save the Latin American working class; it will take international, political and strategic solidarity across borders to build a combative immigrants’ rights movement.

Paul Ginestá

September 28, 2023

Scabs Will Not Pass: Defend the UAW Strike With Organized Grassroots Power

The Big Three are escalating their use of scabs. The rank and file are fighting back.

Jason Koslowski

September 27, 2023
NYC Mayor Eric Adams stands at a podium.

The Housing Crisis and Migrant Crisis Are Crises of Capitalism

As thousands of people come to the U.S. seeking shelter, politicians around the country are claiming that housing in the U.S. is already in crisis and that there is no room for them. Both the “migrant crisis” and “housing crisis” are crises created and exacerbated by capitalism.

Mike Pappas

September 20, 2023

To Win, the UAW Strike Must Be Organized from Below

The strike at the Big Three has put the working class at the center of national politics. The autoworkers’ demands are bold and touch on issues of growing exploitation across the country. To win big, the strike must be organized from below.

Tristan Taylor

September 18, 2023

MOST RECENT

The Big Three Are Using Layoffs to Punish the UAW and Undermine the Strike

The Big Three are retaliating against the UAW by laying off thousands of its members at plants across the country. Defeating these attacks will require the self organization and mobilization of all the workers.

James Dennis Hoff

September 28, 2023
President Biden visits striking UAW workers in Michigan.

Biden’s Picket Line Visit Doesn’t Mean He Is On Our Side

President Biden’s visit to the UAW picket line shows the strength of the strike — and why it should remain independent from him and the Democrats.

Tatiana Cozzarelli

September 27, 2023

Toward a Revolutionary Socialist Network

In this article Warren Montag and Joseph Serrano respond to our call for a network for a working-class party for socialism. 

Warren Montag

September 27, 2023

China’s Rise, ‘Diminished Dependency,’ and Imperialism in Times of World Disorder

In this broad-ranging interview, originally published in LINKS, Trotskyist Fraction member Esteban Mercatante discusses how recent global shifts in processes of capital accumulation have contributed to China’s rise, the new (and old) mechanisms big powers use to plunder the Global South, and its implications for anti-imperialist and working-class struggles today.

Esteban Mercatante

September 22, 2023