Immigration rights groups sue Biden over asylum directive

The American Civil Liberties Union and a coalition of several migrant rights groups filed a historic lawsuit against US President Joe Biden’s administration over their decision to impose a crackdown on asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border.

The lawsuit which was filed on Wednesday, challenged the legality of his restrictive immigration policy change and came just a week after it was enacted. The 29-page lawsuit became the first legal action being taken against the 46th president of the United States.

The partial ban which was imposed by Biden a week ago is expected to 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.

What is the lawsuit about?

In the lawsuit, the ACLU lawyers representing the Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center and Raices asked the federal district court in Washington DC to strike down the regulations that were implemented following Biden’s announcement.

“By enacting an asylum ban that is legally indistinguishable from the Trump ban we successfully blocked, we were left with no choice but to file this lawsuit,” said Lee Gelernt, an attorney for the ACLU.

Advocates argued that suspending asylum for people who do not arrive at a designated port of entry, violates the existing federal immigration law. Interestingly, Biden invoked the same legal authority which was used by former US President Donald Trump to curb asylum seekers crossing the border.

The POTUS gets the authority to impose such restrictions under section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The law allows the country’s president to limit entries for certain people if their arrival is deemed “detrimental” to the national interest.

Just days before the lawsuit was filed, Homeland Security Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas attempted to defend the move. “We stand by the legality of what we have done,” the American official told ABC News, saying that the department is anticipating legal challenges. “We stand by the value proposition.”

Under Biden’s directive, people who arrive at the border but do not express a fear of returning to their home countries will be subject to immediate removal from the United States, within a matter of days or even hours.

Meanwhile, those who express fear or an intention to seek asylum will be screened by a US asylum officer but at a higher standard than the one currently in place.