Trump Border Wall: Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Two Cases About Funding, Asylum Policies

The Supreme Court said Monday that it will hear two cases related to President Trump’s efforts to limit migration into the U.S. from Mexico and other Latin American countries.

One case is centered around whether the Trump administration’s use of military funds to construct a portion of a border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border violated the law. Another involves his administration’s “remain in Mexico” policy for those seeking asylum in the United States.

The Justice Department asked the top court to hear appeals in both cases after suffering defeats in lower courts. Decisions in the cases are expected by the end of June.

The court’s action comes 15 days before the Nov. 3 election and amid a battle on Capitol Hill over Judge Amy Coney Barrett, Trump’s third pick for the Supreme Court. Barrett is expected to be confirmed by the Senate later this month.

Biden has campaigned on being essentially the opposite of Trump on immigration and other issues, calling Trump’s policies “an unrelenting assault on our values and our history as a nation of immigrants.”

The border wall case stems from the Trump administration’s dispute with Congress in 2018 over funding for the barrier. After lawmakers granted only about $1.4 billion of the nearly $6 billion the White House had requested, Trump transferred an additional $2.5 billion for use in wall construction that had been allocated to the Department of Defense.

The Supreme Court allowed the administration to move forward with construction of the wall in July 2019 while the White House pursued an appeal at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The federal appeals court ultimately sided against the administration.

The other case concerns the Department of Homeland Security’s “Migrant Protection Protocols” implemented in January 2019.

Under the policy, asylum-seekers who travel through Mexico to the U.S. are returned to Mexico for the duration of their removal proceedings. Those challenging the policy argue that the government returns migrants to parts of Mexico that are among the most dangerous places in the world.