Trump immigration policies to be reviewed by Supreme Court

On Monday, October 19, the Supreme Court of the United States officially agreed to review two of President Donald J. Trump’s major immigration policies. These include the “Remain in Mexico” policy and the initiative to use $2.5 billion in Pentagon money to build a barrier on the southwestern border.

If you don’t know what the “Remain in Mexico” policy is, allow me to explain. Essentially, it requires asylum-seekers arriving at the border to return to Mexico while awaiting their asylum hearing in the U.S. immigration court. Since it was put in place back in January, many have expressed concerns and disagreement with the policy.

Experts say that sending asylum-seekers back to Mexico while their cases are pending could have quite the negative impact. According to the Justice for Immigrants website, they may not have access to health care, humanitarian aid, and could risk being deported under this policy.

Asylum-seekers are often looking to get away from dangerous or unsafe situations. Even those with minor criminal charges are stripped of their ability to access the asylum system in the U.S. under Remain in Mexico. I asked my Twitter followers if they agreed with this part of the policy. The results can be seen below:

With these concerns, several have questioned if the U.S. has the authority to implement such a policy in the first place. Groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union, Southern Poverty Law Center, and others have already challenged it in lower courts.

The border-wall case has also received backlash. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in June that the Trump administration illegally transferred billions of dollars in military funds for wall construction, according to the Wall Street Journal. As developments continue, President Trump has now taken a whopping $10 billion from the military to accelerate building before the upcoming election.

Arguments for these cases will probably not be heard until February and there are a lot of happenings to come before then, all of which will impact how the reviews play out. Perhaps the biggest situation to consider is the appointment of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Judge Amy Coney Barrett, now officially confirmed, may swing the Court's review of immigration policies.

Judge Amy Coney Barrett was officially confirmed on Monday, October 26, which will further the Court’s conservative majority whether President Trump is reelected or not. Although, a Biden administration working with a Democrat-controlled Congress could pose threats to the two immigration policies in question.