Biden's lovefest with illegal immigrants

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Biden’s Immigration Self-Sabotage​

Judges restore Remain in Mexico, but the President says no thanks.​

By The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board

Jan. 5, 2022 6:34 pm ET

A Haitian family boards a U.S. Border Patrol van to be taken to a processing center after they crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in Yuma, Arizona, Dec. 10, 2021.​

Chaos at the U.S.-Mexico border is one reason President Biden’s job approval has fallen. Yet he and his designated border czar, Vice President Kamala Harris, keep missing opportunities to do something about it. The latest self-harm is the Administration’s attempt to cancel the Remain in Mexico policy, which allows some categories of migrants seeking U.S. asylum to be sent to Mexico while they wait for hearings on their claims. President Biden tried to scrap the Trump-era policy in June, but federal courts have blocked its cancellation. Last week the Justice Department chose to fight another round, asking the Supreme Court to review the stay on its cancellation.

A Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled that the Administration had violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) by failing to account for Remain in Mexico’s benefits. It’s possible the Supreme Court will overturn the Fifth Circuit, though the High Court cited the APA in overturning the Trump Administration’s revocation of President Obama’s policy for “Dreamers” who were brought to the U.S. as children.
The Biden Administration is nonetheless throwing away a policy tool by keeping up the legal fight. Remain in Mexico is among the few recent improvements in U.S. border security. More than 70,000 asylum claimants were relocated to Mexico through the program in its first 14 months. Migrants who know they have to stay in Mexico before their hearings are less inclined to make the hard trek to the border.

Perhaps the White House feels it must challenge Remain in Mexico because it’s a Trump-era policy, and its left flank can’t abide it. But at the same time the Department of Homeland Security last month expanded Remain in Mexico to include migrants from across the Western Hemisphere. The previous version focused on Spanish-speaking migrants from the Northern Triangle in Central America. DHS officials also said they planned to extend the policy to more ports of entry on the southern border.

The Administration has taken advantage of special pandemic authority to expel more than a million illegal migrants, but that power won’t last forever. The Administration will need ways to control the border if it wants to have any hope of building enough political support for the kind of immigration reform the country needs. The Border Patrol apprehended more than 170,000 illegal migrants in November.
The best solution on asylum claims would be to change the law so economic migrants without legitimate asylum claims aren’t granted free leave to work in the U.S. while their cases are waiting to be heard. If the Administration won’t press for that, Remain in Mexico is the best alternative.