Facts

• A federal judge in Texas on Thursday temporarily blocked the Biden admin's attempt to end the Trump-era Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), which require migrants to remain in Mexico to await their asylum hearings in immigration court.^[1]
• This ruling follows a 5-4 SCOTUS decision in June that said the president had the discretion to end the so-called "Remain in Mexico" program, though the high court sent the case back to the lower court to consider whether his attempts to end it followed the Administrative Procedure Act.^[2]
• This legal battle began in January 2021, when Biden ordered Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to review MPP, after which Texas sued, arguing that any attempts to terminate the policy would violate the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).^[3]
• The Biden admin complied after being ordered to reinstate the policy, agreeing to changes and additions demanded by Mexico. The policy wasn't enforced properly, however, with only a few thousand migrants being sent back, leading to the eventual case before SCOTUS.^[4]
• The most recent decision comes ahead of the scheduled termination of another Trump-era immigration policy, Title 42, which cited the COVID pandemic as justification for the rapid expulsion of migrants.^[5]
• This news also comes as US border authorities have encountered a record of more than 2.3M migrants this year, with even more expected after Title 42 is lifted. The COVID-era policy is expected to end Dec. 21.^[6]