A United States of America federal judge on Tuesday blocked President Joe Biden’s new regulation restricting asylum access at the U.S.-Mexico border, upending a key tenet of his plan for deterring migration after the expiration of COVID-era Title 42 restrictions in May.
The judge, California-based U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar, stayed the order for 14 days, which will let the Biden administration appeal. The ruling followed a legal challenge by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other groups.
Biden, a Democrat, took office in 2021 pledging to reverse many of the hardline policies of former President Donald Trump, a Republican, but has adopted some Trump-like border measures as record numbers of migrants have been caught crossing illegally.
Biden’s new asylum regulation, which took effect when Title 42 ended on May 11, presumes most migrants are ineligible for asylum if they passed through other nations without seeking protection elsewhere first, or if they failed to use legal pathways for U.S. entry.
The number of migrants caught crossing the border illegally plummeted in recent months after the new regulation went into place. Whether the trend will continue if the new asylum restrictions are blocked remains unclear.
The U.S. Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a 35-page ruling, Tigar – who blocked similar Trump-era policies – said U.S. law explicitly states that crossing the border illegally should not be a bar to asylum.
Tigar also said U.S. law only permits barring migrants from asylum if they pass through a country that “actually presents a safe option.”
Finding refuge in a third country, such as Belize, Mexico or Colombia, is “infeasible” due to limited processing capacity and other factors in those countries, Tigar said.
