ACLU sues Biden administration for ‘unilateral’ ban on asylum seekers

The American Union for Civil Liberties indicted the Biden administration on Wednesday after the White House said it would happen effectively exclude asylum searchers trying to cross the country’s southern border from Mexico.

President Joe Biden unveiled the plans earlier this month after chastising Republicans for doing so to reach a bipartisan border agreement in February. The new executive action prohibits migrants from being granted asylum along the border if the system is “overwhelmed,” as defined by the White House under the new rules.

The White House had been planning this move for months, as immigration policy is sure to play a central role in the November elections.

The ACLU, which filed the lawsuit along with other civil rights groups, compared Biden’s actions to those of his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, which were ultimately blocked in federal court.

“We had no choice but to file a lawsuit,” Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants Rights Project, said in a statement. “The administration lacks unilateral authority to override Congress and ban asylum based on how a person enters the country, a point the courts made crystal clear when the Trump administration tried unsuccessfully to implement a nearly identical ban.”

The White House rejected those claims in a statement Wednesday evening, reiterating that the president had no choice after the Republican Party stymied efforts to increase border security and funding.

“The Biden-Harris Administration has taken these actions within its authorities as border conflicts remain too high and after Republicans in Congress twice voted against a historic, bipartisan border security agreement that would provide critical resources, regulatory changes and additional personnel at the border have delivered.” a White House spokesperson said in a statement. “The administration will continue to enforce our immigration laws – laws without a legal basis for remaining in the United States will be removed.”

The new rules, which took effect last week, limit the processing of new asylum seekers once the number of average migrant encounters at the southern border exceeds 2,500 per day. At the time of the order, that number was much higher, around 4,000 per day. according to to the Associated Press. Sometimes, including last December, it was like that more than 10,000 encounters per day.

The temporary bans can only be lifted two weeks after the average number of migrant encounters falls below 1,500 per day.

Like the New York Times notesmany people deliberately cross the border and then hand themselves in to border agents to start the asylum procedure. This could allow them to remain in the U.S. for years while they await their court appearances — but under Biden’s executive action, migrants could be returned to Mexico or their home countries within days or hours, and would-be asylum seekers must do so. prove that they have reason to fear being tortured if they are returned.

The ACLU said in its lawsuit Wednesday that the country had long hosted “refugees seeking refuge from persecution.”

“While Congress has placed some restrictions on the right to seek asylum over the years, it has never allowed the executive branch to categorically ban asylum based on where a noncitizen enters the country,” wrote the group in the lawsuit.