On Wednesday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said it stood by its ruling last week that the government’s Remain in Mexico policy defies American laws. The policy has forced tens of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their immigration cases are processed in the U.S.
However, the court said that given the “active controversy” over recent nationwide injunctions barring a number of the Trump administration’s immigration policies, it would limit its ruling to just two border states, Arizona and California. The 9th Circuit said it would leave it to the Supreme Court to decide on whether or not to block the Remain in Mexico policy entirely.
In its decision, the 9th Circuit maintained that there is no “serious possibility” that the Remain in Mexico policy, formally known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), could be “consistent” with federal law.
The court also warned that the policy has clearly been “causing extreme and irreversible harm” to the migrant and asylum seekers forced to wait in Mexican border towns, in some cases for weeks and months, in areas with level four State Department travel advisories.
In a statement shared with Newsweek, Innovation Law Lab, the group fighting the Department of Homeland Security on its Remain in Mexico policy, said that while the 9th Circuit had allowed the rule to continue for now, the ruling also made it “crystal clear” that the policy is putting lives in danger.
“This decision makes it crystal clear not only that [the Remain in Mexico policy is in] violation of the law, but that the U.S. government is directly responsible for the irreversible harm that has been done to thousands of families and individuals seeking asylum by forcing them into vulnerable situations in Mexico,” said Ian Philabaum, the director of border programs at Innovation Law Lab.
“The only befitting next step is to extend this decision across the entirety of the U.S. border with Mexico to ensure that no more asylum seekers are harmed by this racist US policy.”
Judy Rabinovitz, special counsel in the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project also agreed with the court’s ruling “that it is ‘very clear’ that the MPP violates federal law, and ‘it is equally clear that the MPP is causing extreme and irreversible harm.’”
“If the administration had any respect for the law or any sense of decency, it would end this program immediately,” Rabinovitz said, adding that immigrant rights groups would “continue working to permanently end this illegal and inhumane policy.”
Newsweek has contacted the White House and DHS for comment.
