Joey Demento and his team need a political boost. Sadly for them, their policies suck.
So in an effort to restore order, well…their reputations, Team Demento has been forced to revert back to Trump’s border plan.
As reported by The Hill,
The Biden administration told the courts late Thursday that it plans to reimplement the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy in mid-November if it can get buy-in from the neighboring government.
The move comes after an initial victory by Texas and Missouri in a suit that argued the Biden administration too hastily withdrew the policy, under which the U.S. transported 70,000 asylum-seekers to Mexico to await a determination in their case.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has appealed the case and is working on a memo to rescind the program anew, but it is still required to reimplement what was formally termed the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) “in good faith.”
What Trump put in place and Biden rescinded now offers a new bargaining chip for Mexico.
The announcement follows a series of meetings with high-level officials from the Mexican government.
“Mexico is a sovereign nation that must make an independent decision to accept the return of individuals without status in Mexico as part of any reimplementation of MPP. Discussions with the Government of Mexico concerning when and how MPP will be reimplemented are ongoing,” DHS said in a statement Thursday.
In the court filing the government writes that Mexico “has made clear that it has concerns about aspects of how MPP was previously implemented,” taking pains to stress that much of the program’s future implementation relies on securing Mexico’s blessing.
Securing Mexico’s blessing? A blessing Trump already had. Sort of like a stable Afghanistan? And then you pull out the troops before the evacuation.
So now we get what Team Demento will call the “new and unimproved” version of Trump’s plan.
In a call Thursday, DHS told multiple outlets that it would seek to curb some of the effects of the program as implemented under the Trump administration, which saw many migrants simply give up on their cases after lengthy waits in dangerous refugee camps along the border.
DHS officials said it has a “general commitment” to deciding new asylum cases within six month and plans to construct “tent courts” near Laredo and Brownsville, Texas.
It also plans to expand the types of asylum-seekers who will not be subjected to MPP, but the filing doesn’t provide details on who that would include, such as families with children. Mexico has argued that the sick, elderly, as well as those in the LGBT community, should be exempt from MPP.
Both the vulnerability of those returns and the timing for hearing were issues raised by Mexico, along with a demand the U.S. provide “better coordination” on when migrants would be expelled into the country.
Sadly for Team Demento, people see this for what it is. An admission of policy failure for the Biden administration.
Recall that Biden suspended the policy on Inauguration Day. That symbolic gesture must taste great with the crow now being served.
Don’t expect any media hoopla over this massive backtrack. That is unless the border situation lessens. Because if that happens, the ignorant press will celebrate Biden as a conquering hero.
