Court Allows Remain in Mexico Lawsuit to Move Forward

News on an important piece of immigration litigation from earlier this week:

"[A] federal court largely denied the Biden administration’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit, Immigrant Defenders Law Center et al. v. Mayorkas,​ brought on behalf of people seeking asylum who were stranded outside the United States as a result of the Trump administration’s unlawful “Remain in Mexico” policy. In its decision the court declared that, if true, the Plaintiffs’ allegations would amount to `acute and sweeping violations' of their `bedrock rights.' The court also granted the Plaintiffs’ motion for class certification . . . . 

`The court got it right. It is baffling that the government would even attempt to defend the grievous harms inflicted by a policy that the administration itself has condemned, citing its ‘unjustifiable human costs,’ said Melissa Crow, Director of Litigation at the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS). . . . 

Introduced in 2019, the Remain in Mexico policy forced tens of thousands of asylum seekers to await their U.S. immigration court dates just south of the border, in some of the most dangerous cities in the world. Trapped in Mexico, few had access to U.S. legal services, and many fell victim to grave violence." 

KJ