The Supreme Court issued a ruling ordering the Biden administration to reinstate a Trump-era immigration policy known as the Migrant Protection Protocols. The program which was dubbed the “Remain in Mexico” program required migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. to stay in Mexico while their claims are being processed in the United States.

The majority conservative justices refused to block a lower court’s ruling that ordered the Biden administration to reinstate the MPP. The Supreme Court's three liberal justices dissented. Justices Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor did not share an opinion about their dissent.

The short, unsigned order explains that the Biden Administration “failed to show a likelihood of success on the claim that the memorandum rescinding the Migrant Protection Protocols was not arbitrary and capricious.”

The Supreme Court’s declination comes after a federal judge in Texas, affirmed by the fifth U.S. District Circuit Court of Appeals, had ordered that the program be reinstated in response to a lawsuit filed against the administration by Texas and Missouri.

In a statement issued by the Department of Homeland Security last week, DHS shared that it will take “necessary steps to comply with the court order, which requires us to reimplement MPP in good faith.”

The department acknowledged that Mexico would also need to agree with participating in the MPP. In his promise to crack down on illegal immigration, Former President Trump initiated MPP and pressured Mexico to agree with the program by threatening the nation with tariffs. The department shared in its statement, “Alongside interagency partners, DHS has begun to engage with the Government of Mexico in diplomatic discussions surrounding the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP). DHS remains committed to building a safe, orderly, and humane immigration system that upholds our laws and values.” The statement adds, “Mexico is a sovereign nation that must make an independent decision to accept the return of individuals without status in Mexico as part of any reimplementation of MPP. Discussions with the Government of Mexico concerning when and how MPP will be reimplemented are ongoing.”

The program has long been criticized as an unsafe solution for migrants who are seeking asylum in the refugee camps along the border towns in Mexico. In more dangerous border towns, migrants were often susceptible to crimes including rape, kidnapping and other forms of violence. When Biden first entered office, one of his first orders was to undo the MPP. After he stopped the enrollment of migrants in the program, asylum seekers were allowed to enter and wait in the U.S. while their cases went through the court system. This resulted in a surge of migrants arriving at the southern border over the past year.

When asked about the spike in migrants, Biden shared with reporters in March, “Rolling back the policies of ‘Remain in Mexico,’ sitting on the edge of the Rio Grande in a muddy circumstance with not enough to eat and — I make no apologies for that.” Biden added, “I make no apologies for ending programs that did not exist before Trump became President, that have an incredibly negative impact on the law, international law, as well as on human dignity.”

Under President Trump, over 60,000 asylum seekers waited in makeshift refugee camps alongside the Mexican side of the U.S. southern border. After Biden took office and began to dismantle the operations of MPP, Texas and Missouri both filed lawsuits against the Biden Administration citing that an end to the program would create an influx of undocumented migrants into their states. Their complaint detailed that revoking MPP would “amplify the ongoing border crisis into an outright disaster, emboldening criminal cartels and human traffickers who prey on vulnerable migrants.”

Although the Biden administration pledged to do away with MPP, they have continued another Trump-era policy that expels migrants under Title 42. Under this law, migrants can be turned away at the border to prevent the spread of communicable diseases like COVID-19. The Biden administration has kept this practice in place and has consistently turned away single adults at the border. However, family units have been allowed to enter along with undocumented migrant minors.

The Department of Homeland Security has said that it will appeal the decision. It's not yet clear what effects the reinstatement of this policy could have; however, immigration advocates warn of the dire circumstances migrants will be left to face if MPP is reinstated.