Just over six dozen U.S. and international open-border advocates recently penned a letter to the President of Mexico asking him to refuse to accept migrants now being returned to Mexico after the Supreme Court declined to halt a lower court's decision which mandated the reinstatement of "Remain in Mexico."
President Biden and DHS Secretary Mayorkas suspended the Migrant Protection Protocols shortly after the inauguration in January, but it was not until June that the program was officially ended.
On August 13, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk from the Northern District of Texas ordered the Biden administration to revive the program. However, Judge Kacsmaryk stayed his ruling until August 21.
On August 19, a panel for the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Administration's argument for appeal, upholding Judge Kacsmaryk's previous ruling, adding the finding that Biden's cancelation of MPP "has caused an increase in unlawful immigration in Texas."
On August 20, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Alito granted the Biden Admin. 's request for an emergency stay just hours before the program started, allowing the federal government to provide additional resources to the court. On August 25, the court finally declined to intervene, allowing the MPP to restart while the litigation continued over the program's merits.
Just before the unsigned ruling from SCOTUS, seventy-four "international advocacy organizations" asked the Mexican President to refuse any migrants returned from the U.S. as part of the highly effective and arguably life-saving MPP. The crux of the open-border advocates' argument revolves around how Mexico can and should refuse migrants, wait for it, because they are a sovereign nation.
Using that same logic, in what way would the creation of the Migrant Protection Protocols in 2019 not constitute an assertion of American sovereignty?
The advocacy groups wrote in their letter to President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador:
As a sovereign nation, Mexico has the right to reject the reinstatement of (the Migrant Protection Protocols) program or any future iteration of this policy that aims to externalize the U.S. border into Mexican territory.
It is impossible to implement MPP in a way that upholds human rights and due process, and Mexico has the responsibility to block this detrimental policy.
The groups argue that MPP relies solely on Mexico's cooperation with U.S. officials, should the President of Mexico refuse to reaccept migrants who he already encouraged to travel through his country en route to the U.S., the "Remain in Mexico" issue will become "moot."
Here are just a few of the U.S. organizations that signed onto the disastrous letter: American Friends Service Committee, Border Angels, Amnesty International, Center for Civic Policy, Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project, Global Exchange, Human Rights First, Jewish Activists for Immigration Justice of Western MA, National Immigration Law Center, National Partnership for New Americans, Refugees International, San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, Washington Office on Latin America, Women's Refugee Commission.
You can read the full letter here.
