The U.S. Supreme Court recently issued a decision allowing President Joe Biden to rescind a Trump-era "Remain in Mexico" policy.
Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) responded to the decision, urging state-level immigration restrictions and describing the issues that may arise from relaxed immigration policy—such as human trafficking.
On June 30, in a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Biden administration was legally justified in rescinding the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” immigration policy. This policy—formally titled the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP)—required immigrants seeking asylum to reside in Mexico throughout the course of all court proceedings.
Justice John Roberts delivered the majority opinion. He was joined by Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. Justice Kavanaugh wrote a concurring opinion. Justices Samuel Alito, Amy Coney Barrett, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch dissented.
"The Supreme Court upheld the Biden administration's decision to terminate the Remain-in-Mexico policy. This will only embolden Biden's open-border policies," Abbott wrote in a June 30 tweet. "Texas will continue to step up to secure our border in the federal government's absence."
The Texas Public Policy Foundation recently discussed how MPP “Remain in Mexico” policies helped to curb immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border. Senior Director for Right on Immigration Ken Oliver said, “It is clear that the Biden administration is committed to tearing down every effective border security program in existence, and the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision unfortunately helps clear the way for their essentially open-borders agenda. The fact is that the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) were the single most effective measure implemented to stem massive, unrelenting abuse of the U.S. asylum system.”
In a recent tweet, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said, “I am disappointed in SCOTUS allowing Biden to dissolve the Remain-in-Mexico program, one of our last and best protections against the Dems’ border crisis. I will continue to fight to secure our border and hold Biden accountable in my dozen other border-security suits in federal court.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection data sheds light on increases in immigration from Mexico to the U.S. During the past year of Biden’s Presidency (fiscal year 2022), the U.S. Border Patrol reported 1,536,899 land border encounters—typically instances of illegal immigration—along the U.S. southern border, representing a 236% increase in encounters since the end of Donald Trump’s presidency (fiscal year 2020).
Reuters explains that, for major Mexican cartels, there is monetary link between immigration and human trafficking. In recent years, Mexican cartels who previously stole oil and sold drugs are shifting to a new line of work: human trafficking. Mexico is an origin, transit and destination country for the sex trafficking industry and has recently seen an uptick in gangs shifting to the business of dealing in people. Cartels that have shifted to human trafficking include the oil-pipeline-tapping and Guanajuato-based Santa Rosa de Lima gang, as well as the Mexico City Tepito Union drug gang.
According to a 2016 report from the University of Texas at Austin, there are 78,996 minor and youth victims of human trafficking and 234,457 victims of labor trafficking in Texas at any given time, totaling 313,453 victims of human trafficking.