Guest Calls for Transparency into Abrupt Suspension of ‘Remain in Mexico’ Policy

WASHINGTON, DC – Rep. Michael Guest (R-MS), Vice Ranking Member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, today called for transparency into the Biden Administration’s hasty suspension of the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), also known as the “Remain in Mexico” policy. Guest highlights the rash nature in which the administration made this announcement on January 20, 2021, concluding that it likely failed to conduct a proper analysis or notify the appropriate stakeholders before the suspension took effect.

In a letter to DHS Secretary Mayorkas, Guest wrote, “The Department’s seemingly impulsive announcement lacked explanation, justification, or any other indicia that the decision had been made only after the careful deliberations and consultations that are both appropriate and lawfully required of Executive Branch agencies by the Administrative Procedures Act (APA). It further appears, based on a lawsuit filed by several states, that those states who stood to bear the largest and most immediate burden from the Department’s suspension of MPP were not consulted or even notified prior to the announcement. Given that MPP provided major relief to the strain on border states, immigration courts, and Department resources, it is imperative that the Department provide a fulsome and transparent justification of its decision to suspend MPP.”

“The apparent failure of the Department to engage in any analysis of costs, benefits, and alternatives prior to the Department’s announcement is deeply troubling. It also raises concerns that the Department used the discretion afforded to it by Congress in the Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA) to make this hasty decision for political purposes. Therefore, it is necessary that Congress exercises our constitutionally vested oversight authority to examine the facts and circumstances surrounding the Department’s MPP decision,” Guest continued.

View the full letter here.

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