The American Civil Liberties Union and several migrant rights groups filed a lawsuit targeting President Biden’s recently announced crackdown on asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The American Civil Liberties Union and several migrant rights groups filed a lawsuit Wednesday targeting President Biden’s recently announced at the U.S.-Mexico border, challenging the legality of his restrictive immigration policy change just a week after it was enacted.
The 29-page lawsuit is the first legal action against Mr. Biden’s attempt to use a sweeping presidential authority to disqualify most migrants from asylum and make it easier for U.S. immigration officials to deport them. The partial ban on asylum claims took effect a week ago and will remain in place until the weekly average of daily illegal border crossings falls below 1,500 — a level that has not been recorded since 2020.
ACLU lawyers asked the federal district court in Washington, D.C., to strike down the regulations that implemented Mr. Biden’s order, arguing that they violate U.S. asylum law and federal policy-making rules. The civil rights group, however, did not ask the court to immediately block the regulations, which were published by the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security.
The ACLU convinced federal courts to halt a Trump administration asylum restriction in 2018 that relied on the same legal authority, known as 212(f).
“We were left with no choice but to file this lawsuit.
