"Remain in Mexico" is Finally Dead. Now Comes Title 42

     This session, the Supreme Court solidified its place as a human rights violator, a threat to American democracy, a pariah in terms of the legitimacy of the judicial system, a body more interested in Christian nationalism than the U.S. Constitution, and a million other vile things I would go to jail for putting into words. However, amidst all of that, there was one positive: the Supreme Court finally allowed the Biden administration to end Trump's "Remain in Mexico" policy. 

     The judges beneath SCOTUS who ruled that President Biden could not repeal Remain in Mexico are disgraces to their profession. The policy mandated that immigrants who wished to apply to immigrate to the United States remain in Mexico while their cases were heard, a move that made things much harder, much more dangerous, and much more contentious for people coming to the United States in search of a better life. The idea that President Trump could instate a policy via executive action and President Biden couldn't have the power to repeal it via executive action is an insult to the rule of law, and, as rare as it is to say, the Supreme Court made the right decision in this case.

     President Biden has made repealing President Trump's immigration policies and instituting more humane ones a top priority of his administration: he repealed the family separation policy and began the tedious process of reuniting hundreds of families, cancelled contracts for Trump's border wall (while securing billions of dollars from Mexico for border infrastructure, something Trump couldn't get Mexico to do for his wall in four years), rescinded the Muslim ban, and made dozens of other moves reinstating Obama-era policies, suspending Trump-era policies, shutting down the worst of the worst ICE centers, and curbing the power of immigration authorities to make arrests and deportations of immigrants who haven't committed any crimes except being in the United States.

     There is just one major Trump immigration policy that has not yet been ended: Title 42, a policy that became infamous in the summer of 2021 when the Biden administration was legally required to use it against Haitian refugees, one that strips due process from immigrants trying to follow the proper channels to escape violence and poverty by ordering them deported immediately under the guise of public health due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 80 percent of Americans, 70 percent of Mexicans, 65 percent of Hondurans, half of Guatemalans, and 70 percent of El Salvadorans are at least partially vaccinated against COVID against nearly 70 percent of the total world population. People from this "Northern Triangle" region, the people who make up the brunt of immigrants entering the United States, are more likely to be vaccinated than those in countless states and counties in the U.S. Title 42 is not about health and never has been: the CDC confirmed that immigration is not, nor has it ever been, the cause of COVID-19 case surges in the United States and that Title 42 serves no practical purpose. The only reason for Title 42 is to keep immigrants out and claim that anyone who does not want to extend this emergency power grab in perpetuity is pro-COVID.

     Biden announced a repeal of Title 42 in May in spite of efforts by moderates like Kyrsten Sinema in Congress to codify the policy into law via legislation. However, states sued, just like Texas is suing to stop Americans from having access to HIV prevention medication. In Louisiana, a judge put the repeal of Title 42 on hold with a court ruling, teeing up a legal fight that will likely go all the way to the Supreme Court. It's a battle we must fight: Remain in Mexico is finally dead; now comes Title 42.

     This is tremendous progress. However, just as we have seen bipartisan cooperation on infrastructure, on veterans, on innovation, on guns, and on other pressing issues, the only permanent path forward remains passing the first bipartisan immigration reform in nearly two decades. President Biden submitted an immigration proposal to Congress on Day One: it's time for Congress to act.