A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the Biden administration from ending a Trump-era policy designed to restrict immigration at the southern border.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk for the Northern District of Texas said in his decision that he would put on hold termination of the policy that required people seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border, primarily from Central America, to wait in Mexico while their claims were decided, “until the Court can resolve the merits of Plaintiffs’ claims.”
Kacsmaryk’s ruling marks a setback for President Joe Biden, whose administration first sought to end the “Remain in Mexico” policy, formally known as the Migrant Protection Protocols, when he took office in January 2021.
The judge’s decision comes after the Supreme Court in June said in a 5-4 ruling that the Biden administration had acted properly in seeking to end the policy, reversing a federal appeals court ruling that rejected a fresh attempt to end the policy in October 2021. The administration was previously forced to reinstate the policy after Texas and Missouri sued.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who’d filed suit to block the policy from being lifted, praised the judge’s order on Twitter.
