An alliance of immigrant rights groups are suing the Biden administration over the president's plan to temporarily suspend entry to asylum seekers at the border, saying it puts thousands of lives at risk.
The executive order issued by President Joe Biden last week limits entry for asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border once the daily number of encounters between legal ports of entry reaches 2,500. The border will be reopened once the number of crossings eases to 1,500. Individuals who cross the border unlawfully or without authorization will be ineligible for asylum.
The new rules went into effect immediately, as border crossings currently top out around 4,000 per day, according to reports.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., claims that the order violates the country's immigration laws by effectively shutting off any access to asylum protections for the vast majority of people arriving at the southern border, no matter how strong their claims.
The complaint was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, National Immigrant Justice Center, Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, Jenner & Block LLP, ACLU of the District of Columbia, and Texas Civil Rights Project on behalf of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center and the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services.
"We were left with no alternative but to sue. The administration lacks unilateral authority to override Congress and bar asylum based on how one enters the country, a point the courts made crystal clear when the Trump administration unsuccessfully tried a near-identical ban," Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project, said in a statement.
The lawsuit charges the ban, which allows asylum access only for people who can secure a scarce appointment to present themselves at a port of entry or satisfy a very narrow exception, is flatly inconsistent with the asylum statute that Congress enacted, which permits migrants to apply for asylum "whether or not" they enter at a port of entry.
"The Biden administration's latest asylum rule runs roughshod over our laws and treaty obligations, choking off a crucial lifeline for people seeking safety. It exacerbates chaos at our southern border, undermines the vital work of humanitarian and legal aid groups, and will result in wrongful deportations of refugees to countries where they face persecution and torture," said Melissa Crow, director of litigation at the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies.
In addition to barring asylum for most migrants, the new rules also create potentially insurmountable obstacles for seeking other types of protection, according to the complaint.
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"By limiting the number of people who can claim asylum, people are forced to compete for the few appointments available each day in the CBP One App, which is riddled with glitches and is itself a barrier to seeking asylum. This executive order not only violates asylum law, but our values as a country," said Tami Goodlette, director of the Beyond Borders Program at the Texas Civil Rights Project.
When asked about the lawsuit, the White House directed reporters to the Justice Department, which declined to comment.
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