Federal judge allows Biden administration to terminate Remain-in-Mexico border policy again

A federal judge in Texas on Monday gave the Biden administration the green light to terminate Trump-era border rules that require migrants to wait for their U.S. asylum court hearings in Mexico, putting an end, at least for now, to a yearlong legal back-and-forth over President Biden's efforts to end the policy.

In a one-page order, U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk set aside a ruling he issued last year that required the Biden administration to reinstate the Migrant Protection Protocols, a policy colloquially known as "Remain-in-Mexico" that was suspended on President Biden's first day in office in January 2021.

Earlier in the day, Justice Department lawyers representing the Biden administration had asked Kacsmaryk to void his August 2021 ruling, citing the Supreme Court's decision in June to reject the legal arguments by Republican officials in Texas and Missouri that Kacsmaryk upheld in his order last year.