The Supreme Court agreed on Wednesday with a request from the Biden administration to remove two immigration-related cases from its next calendar because they were no longer needed due to policy changes by the new administration.
In a brief order, the high court agreed to the request to remove the cases from its next oral argument schedule.
IDB SIGNS THREE IMMIGRATION ORDERS IN THE LAST MOVEMENT TO REVERSE KEY TRUMP POLICIES
“Motions to keep the instruction on hold and remove the cases from the February 2021 argument calendar were granted,” the order said.
The first case, Biden v. Sierra Club, concerns the construction of the wall on the southern border and whether the Trump administration had the authority to transfer $ 2.5 billion in military funds to finance the project based on a “national emergency” statement.
Approximately 450 wall miles were built under President Donald Trump, with about another 350 additional miles funded.
But Biden, who promised to prevent the wall if elected, last week suspended building the wall so that there could be assessments of the legality of funding, methods of contracting, as well as the consequences of project suspension.
The second case removed from the calendar by the court – Pekoske (Wolf) v. Innovation Laws Laboratory – involved the Protocols for the Protection of Migrants (MPP). The policy, known as the Remain-in-Mexico policy, sends migrants back to Mexico while waiting for immigration hearings, instead of being released in the United States
CBP FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE BORDER WALL AFTER THE EXECUTIVE ORDER OF BIDEN
Critics called the policy cruel and inhumane, while the Trump administration argued that it was vital to end “catch and release” and remove the pull factors that bring migrants to the U.S. More than 60,000 migrants were returned under the policy.
The administration appealed the lower court’s decisions invalidating the policy. But Biden had promised to end the MPP and on Tuesday signed a request ordering a review of the program and for DHS to determine whether the policy should be modified or terminated.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan indicated that the government still wants to end the program, but warned that it “will take time”.
“The MPP was a disaster from the start and led to a humanitarian crisis in northern Mexico. But putting the new policy into practice will take time,” he said in December. “The current administration has dismantled much of the capacity needed to ensure the safe and orderly processing of migrants. We need time to increase processing capacity and do so in accordance with public health requirements ”.
The withdrawal of cases is the latest move by the Biden government to move quickly away from Trump-era immigration policies. On Tuesday, Biden signed orders that will create a task force to reunify families separated by his predecessor and review other Trump policies.
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“I am not making a new law, I am eliminating bad policies,” said Biden of the Oval Office. “What I’m doing is addressing the issues that, 99% of them, the last president of the United States issued executive orders that I considered very counterproductive for our security, counterproductive for who we are as a country, especially in the area of immigration.”
He also lifted Trump-era travel bans and sought to strengthen the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which Trump intended to end – but was rejected by the Supreme Court.