The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other immigrant advocacy organizations have filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration over its recent executive action cracking down on asylum seeking at the southern border. They did so on behalf of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center and the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services.
The complaint was filed in a federal court in Washington D.C., with attorneys arguing that the decision violates a Congress' statute allowing migrants to request asylum regardless of whether they get to the country through a port of entry.
"While Congress has placed some limitations on the right to seek asylum over the years, it has never permitted the Executive Branch to categorically ban asylum based on where a noncitizen enters the country," reads a passage of the presentation.
Lee Gelernt, deputy director of ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project, had already anticipated the organization would take this step shortly after the order was announced. "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," he said.
Biden administration officials, on their end, defended the decision. White House assistant press secretary Angelo Fernández Hernández said it was because "border encounters remain too high," while referring inquiries to the Department of Justice.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, on her end, said the department cannot comment on pending litigation but argued the rule is "lawful" and "critical to strengthening border security."
DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas also defended the decision, saying the goal is increasing incentives for migrants to immigrate through legal means.
Speaking to ABC News, Mayorkas said "our intent is to really change the risk calculus of individuals before they leave their countries of origin," as well as incentivizing them to "use lawful pathways that we have made available to them and keep them out of the hands of exploitative smugglers."
According to administration officials, the amount of expedited removals at the border has more than doubled since the order was issued early last week. Before, about 900 people were reached by such measures each day, an administration official told the outlet.
The executive action bars migrants who cross illegally from seeking asylum once a daily threshold is met, unless individuals meet certain exemptions. The measure could be turned on and off and would be lifted when there's a daily average of fewer than 1,500 encounters between ports of entry.
The changes mark Biden's toughest border restrictions yet. It also follows a failed bipartisan border bill blocked by Congress Republicans that would have seen similar measures.
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