FAIR: Activists Try to Block Remain in Mexico

FAIR shows lawyers lack First Amendment right to have alien clients wait here

WASHINGTON, Aug. 4, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) filed a brief in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals opposing a challenge to the Trump administration's resumption of the Remain in Mexico program. Under this program, asylum seekers are returned to Mexico to wait for their asylum hearings in that country, rather than in the United States.

The program has been shown to be extremely effective in reducing meritless asylum claims. As it turns out, aliens who make meritless claims end up dropping them if they have to wait in Mexico for their hearings, instead of being able to use those claims to gain a foothold in the United States.

The lawyer-plaintiffs bringing this challenge, however, claim that Remain in Mexico burdens their First Amendment right to communicate with their clients, and their clients' right to counsel.

In its brief, FAIR shows that these claims amount to the claim that the lawyers have a right to communicate with their clients, and those clients to be counseled, in the United States, rather than in Mexico. But excludable aliens have no right to exercise their statutory right to counsel in the United States, as opposed to abroad, nor do others have a constitutional right to associate with excludable aliens in this country. The Supreme Court, for example, has held that the right to live with one's spouse does not include the right to live with one's excludable-alien spouse in the United States, as opposed to some other country.

"Remain in Mexico has been, and still is, a key component of Trump policies that have worked so well to secure our border," said Dale L. Wilcox, executive director and general counsel of FAIR. "By weeding out bogus claims, it also preserves asylum for those who truly need it. We hope the court clearly sees that plaintiffs' arguments here don't hold water, and refuses to use them to support a ruling that once again would swamp the asylum process—and flood the country—with illegal aliens gaming the system."

The case is Immigrant Defenders Law Center v. Noem, No. 25-2581 (Ninth Circuit).

Contact: Ira Mehlman [email protected], 213-700-0407

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SOURCE Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)