Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Challenge to Trump’s Hardline Asylum Policy

Photograph of Supreme Court Building Courtroom (Wikimedia Commons)

The United States Supreme Court agreed on October 19 to hear a challenge on President Trump’s restrictive asylum policy in Wolf v. Innovation Law Lab. The policy in question, titled the Migration Policy Protocols (MPP) or the “Remain in Mexico” program, has forced thousands of asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their asylum cases undergo processing in the United States, according to the Guardian. 

The “Remain in Mexico” program, which took effect in January 2019, deliberately aimed to curtail immigration from South and Central America. According to NPR, a ruling from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in early 2020 demanded that the United States halt the program in Arizona and California under the premise that it violated the Immigration and Nationality Act; however, the Supreme Court reinstated the policy in March 2020.

Those advocating to end the MPP argue that the policy has endangered many migrants who have already faced kidnapping, rape, and assault on their journey to the southern border. In an online statement, ACLU attorney Judy Rabinovitz said, “Asylum seekers face grave danger every day this illegal and depraved policy is in effect.

The courts have repeatedly ruled against it, and the Supreme Court should as well.” Melissa Crow, an attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center, added in the same statement, “This only prolongs an immoral, unlawful policy that forces individuals to languish under dangerous conditions in Mexico in order to seek asylum in the United States.”

However, the Trump administration has defended the policy, arguing that it has successfully and appropriately curbed immigration. A White House statement released in February between the Ninth Circuit and Supreme Court ruling argued, “By any measure, MPP has been hugely successful, including by reducing burdens on United States communities and easing the humanitarian crisis on the Southern border.”

According to the Supreme Court online docket, deliberation of the cases will not occur until next year; after the 2020 election. Considering Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden’s statement on Twitter that, “On day one, I will eliminate President Trump’s decision to limit asylum and end the MPP program,” the relevance of the ruling decision hangs on the outcome of this next general election.