Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With Allie Bice and Louis Nelson Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Alex | Email Tina DONALD TRUMP is no longer in charge of U.S. immigration policy. But his nominees (and other GOP-nominated federal judges) are making it plenty hard for JOE BIDEN to unravel the policies Trump implemented during four years in the White House. Tuesday night, the Supreme Court — stocked with three Trump-nominated justices — refused to stop a recent order from a Trump-nominated federal judge for the Biden administration to reinstate the policy known as “Remain in Mexico.” The six Republican-appointed justices on the Court denied the Biden administration’s request, while the three Democrat-appointed justices indicated they would have granted a stay of the lower court order. The Trump-era program, which was first implemented in January 2019 and is formally known as the Migrant Protection Protocols, forces asylum seekers arriving at the U.S. southern border to remain in Mexico while they wait for their cases to be heard. Biden ended that program his first day in office. It was an opening salvo that Biden supporters and immigrant advocates regarded as necessary to undoing Trump’s “cruel” policies and implementing Biden’s promised “fair and humane” immigration system. But U.S. District Court Judge MATTHEW KACSMARYK, a Trump appointee confirmed in 2019, blocked Biden from moving forward with the policy earlier this month. Early in Biden’s term, a different Trump nominee in Texas, U.S. District Judge DREW TIPTON, blocked Biden’s 100-day deportation moratorium. Tipton last week also blocked the administration from limiting who can be arrested and deported by immigration agents. And last month, another Texas-based federal judge — ANDREW HANEN, who was nominated by President George W. Bush — ruled that the Obama-era DACA program is unlawful and blocked the administration from approving new applications. The series of legal defeats pose a political and logistical nightmare for Biden: How can he deliver on his immigration agenda if some of his hallmark promises are being blocked by the courts? How does he (and will he) reinstate the “Remain in Mexico” policy that is tied to more than 1,500 reported cases of murders, rape, kidnapping and other assaults of migrants sent back to Mexico? And will Mexico — a sovereign country not bound to the Supreme Court’s decision — even accept the program’s return? “The government must take all steps available to fully end this illegal program,” said OMAR JADWAT, director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project. “What it must not do is use this decision as cover for abandoning its commitment to restore a fair asylum system.” The Department of Homeland Security, for its part, said on Tuesday night that it will “continue to vigorously challenge” the U.S. district court’s order and regrets that the Supreme Court didn’t issue a stay. But it acknowledged that the agency has begun to engage with Mexico on the issue and will “comply with the order in good faith.” Mexico’s government hasn’t dished any details on its position, but confirmed it would be speaking to U.S. officials on Wednesday. In the short term, it’s unclear how the Biden administration will be able to show its “good faith” attempt to reinstate the policy — or what exactly it has to demonstrate to the court to win in the appeals process. The “Remain in Mexico” program forces migrants seeking asylum to wait in Mexico until their case is heard. But the Biden administration continues to employ Title 42, a public health order first utilized under Trump, to expel a majority of migrants without allowing them to seek asylum. In other words: thousands of migrants are already being sent back to Mexico under the pandemic-era policy and the reinstatement of MPP means many more could now be sent there. Many Democrats, immigration attorneys and immigrant advocates echoed the same message in response to the high court’s order: Biden must not back down and reinstate the policy, even if revised. Republicans were quick to celebrate the Supreme Court’s order. Trump adviser STEPHEN MILLER, who’s largely responsible for Trump immigration policies, took to Twitter to congratulate Texas Attorney General KEN PAXTON for successfully suing over Biden’s repeal of the policy. Paxton showered Miller with praise in return: “Great team work!” Trump himself, meanwhile, called on other state leaders to rally against Biden’s policies: “Other State Attorneys General should follow suit and go after every one of Biden’s unlawful border and immigration policies,” the former president urged in a Wednesday statement. Do you work in the Biden administration? Are you in touch with the White House? Are you MAURA OOI? We want to hear from you — and we’ll keep you anonymous: westwingtips@politico.com. Or if you want to stay really anonymous send us a tip through SecureDrop, Signal, Telegram, or Whatsapp here. | 
