East RGV News

In a tweet, U.S. Rep. Mayra Flores (R-TX) commented on a U.S. Supreme Court decision this week allowing President Joe Biden to rescind a Trump-era "Remain in Mexico" policy.

The High Court, in a 5-4 decision on June 30, ruled that the Biden administration was justified in a decision to withdraw the Trump-era Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) “remain-in-Mexico” rule that requires immigrants to stay in Mexico during the process of seeking asylum. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, with justices Breyer, Kagan, Sotomayor and Kavanaugh concurring. Justices Alito, Barrett, Thomas and Gorsuch were in dissent.

“The Supreme Court just ruled that Biden can end Trump’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy,” Flores tweeted the day of the decision.

The Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) detailed in a press release how the MPP actually helped to stem the tide of immigration at the southern border. 

“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,” Ken Oliver, TPPF senior director for Right on Immigration, said in the news release. “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.”

There also is data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection website that shows the number of border encounters is on the rise again in the wake of the pandemic. Over the last year of the Biden administration, the U.S. Border Patrol had 1,536,899 land border encounters along the southern border, up 236% since the end of the Trump administration. 

Reuters noted in a 2020 report that there is a cash link between immigration and human trafficking, with cartels turning to human smuggling as a new revenue source. Mexico has seen an increase in gangs involved in human smuggling and human trafficking; as the country is an origin, transit and destination site for the sex trafficking industry. Cartels that have shifted to human trafficking include the oil pipeline-tapping, Guanajuato-based Santa Rosa de Lima gang; as well as the Mexico City Tepito Union drug gang.

Moreover, the University of Texas at Austin noted in a 2016 report that there are typically 78,996 minor and youth victims of human trafficking—with another 234,457 victims of labor trafficking—in the state at any given time.