The legal questions presented to the court in the case were whether the Biden administration’s decision to rescind the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) violated the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and whether the policy rescission was a valid final agency action by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
States including Texas and Missouri launched a lawsuit challenging the rescission of the MPP, arguing that the decision violated the INA and Administrative Procedures Act. A district court and court of appeals initially ruled in favor of the states against the Biden administration.
"For the reasons explained, the Government’s rescission of MPP did not violate section 1225 of the INA, and the October 29 Memoranda did constitute final agency action. We therefore reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals and remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion," Chief Justice John Roberts said in the written majority opinion.
Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch issued a dissenting opinion arguing that the Biden administration has no legal alternative to the policy and must continue enforcement of the rule.
"Due to the huge numbers of aliens who attempt to enter illegally from Mexico, DHS does not have the capacity to detain all inadmissible aliens encountered at the border, and no one suggests that DHS must do the impossible. But rather than avail itself of Congress’s clear statutory alternative to return inadmissible aliens to Mexico while they await proceedings in this country, DHS has concluded that it may forgo that option altogether and instead simply release into this country untold numbers of aliens who are very likely to be removed if they show up for their removal hearings," Alito said in the dissenting opinion.
The ruling came down on the last of the Supreme Court’s opinion "issuance days" for the rest of the summer, as well as the last day of Justice Stephen Breyer’s tenure on the bench.
US President Joe Biden earlier in June at the Summit of the Americas announced over $645 million in funding for the Latin American region to help address issues including what the president called "historic refugee and migration flows."