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The American Civil Liberties Union and several migrant rights groups filed a lawsuit Wednesday targeting President Biden’s recently announced crackdown on asylum 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.

a provision in federal law that says migrants who set foot on U.S. soil “whether or not at a designated port of arrival” may apply for asylum. Moreover, it sued over the requirement that migrants affirmatively express fear to be screened, and the heightened screening standards asylum officers were instructed to employ under Mr. Biden’s measure.

The civil rights organization also challenged another measure announced last week that reduced the time migrants in U.S. border custody have to consult with lawyers before their asylum screenings from 24 to 4 hours.

Lawyers for the ACLU and other groups filed Wednesday’s lawsuit on behalf of Las Americas and RAICES, two Texas-based organizations that provide legal services to migrants.

Wednesday’s lawsuit was unsurprising. Virtually every major action taken by Mr. Biden on immigration has faced lawsuits. Republican-led states have challenged Mr. Biden’s reversals of Trump-era immigration policies and programs that facilitate the legal entry of migrants, while advocacy groups like the ACLU have sued over his more restrictive border policies.

In one case, the ACLU and Republican-led states challenged the same policy: a rule that presumes migrants are ineligible for asylum if they do not use legal options to enter the U.S. and fail to seek refuge in other countries. The ACLU has argued the rule infringes on the rights of asylum-seekers, while GOP state officials have complained it contains too many exceptions. 

While the number of migrants crossing the southern border illegally spiked to a record 250,000 in December, it has since dropped markedly. In May, Border Patrol recorded 118,000 illegal crossings, the third consecutive monthly drop, according to agency figures obtained by CBS News.

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Source: cbsnews.com