On Wednesday, a coalition of immigrant advocacy organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), sued the Biden administration over its recent executive action restricting asylum processing. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center and the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, argues that Biden’s executive action violates a Congressional statute that allows migrants to apply for asylum regardless of their point of entry.
The ACLU’s complaint states, “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.” The lawsuit contends that the statutory text prevents the President from barring noncitizens from asylum based on their manner of entry into the United States.
Biden’s executive action, effective immediately due to high daily encounter averages, limits asylum processing once there is a seven-day average of 2,500 or more encounters. Exceptions exist for unaccompanied children. Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, emphasized, “The administration lacks unilateral authority to override Congress and bar asylum based on how one enters the country.”
White House assistant press secretary Angelo Fernández Hernández justified the action due to high border encounters, while a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson stated that the “Securing the Border rule is lawful, critical to strengthening border security, and is already having an impact.” The lawsuit references a similar Trump administration ban blocked by the courts in 2018. Recent data shows over 1.5 million border encounters this fiscal year, outpacing previous years.
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