WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is allowing the Trump administration to continue enforcing a policy that makes asylum-seekers wait in Mexico for U.S. court hearings, despite lower court rulings that the policy probably is illegal.
The justices' order comes Wednesday over a dissenting vote by Justice Sonia Sotomayor. She was the only justice to note publicly that she would have denied the government’s request.
It overturns a lower court order that would have blocked the policy, at least for people arriving at the border crossings in Arizona and California.
The high court action comes a day before the lower court order was to have taken effect. Instead, the “Remain in Mexico" policy will stay in place while a lawsuit challenging it plays out in the courts.
The policy, which was announced in December 2018, allows the Department of Homeland Security to return immigrants seeking asylum to Mexico while they wait for deportation proceedings.
The Trump administration came to the Supreme Court last week, after a federal district court in California blocked the government from enforcing the policy anywhere in the United States.
Those against the policy claimed it is “unprecedented.” A group of Central Americans who were returned to Mexico and several organizations said they are exposed to dangers that include kidnapping, assault and rape when they were sent back to Mexico.
In a brief order written on Wednesday, the Supreme Court gave the federal government the go-ahead to continue to enforce the policy while it appeals to the Supreme Court and, if the justices grant review, until the justices can hear oral argument and issue their decision on the merits.
