President Joe Biden faces political peril as a showdown at the Supreme Court on immigration coincides with widespread criticism of his plan to end pandemic-related border controls.
Justices on Tuesday will consider whether Biden can end former President Donald Trump’s “remain in Mexico” policy, which has forced tens of thousands of asylum-seekers to stay south of the border while their applications are processed. A federal trial judge ordered the Biden administration to restart the program.
A ruling against the administration would further complicate Biden’s handling of immigration — an issue on which voters already give him low marks, polls show. Republicans are preparing to highlight the migrant surge at the southern border in the November elections, while a growing number of Democratic lawmakers are distancing themselves from the administration’s plan to scrap the separate, pandemic-driven Title 42 border controls, fearing the influx will only worsen.
