U.S. District Court blocks new Biden asylum policy

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked President Joe Biden’s new asylum policy for undocumented migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, claiming that it violates the country’s asylum laws. 

Judge Jon Tigar of the U.S. District Court in Northern California blocked a measure the Biden administration set in May that effectively bars asylum seekers from applying for protections at the U.S.-Mexico border. 

After the pandemic-era immigration policy Title 42 ended in May, the Biden administration unveiled a new policy that seeks to prevent asylum seekers from applying for protection at the border if they did not use a legal pathway or have not sought asylum in a third country they crossed earlier. 

In his decision, Tigar said that entering the country through the U.S.-Mexico border “should not affect access to asylum” and called the restrictions “arbitrary and capricious.” Additionally, the judge said that making migrants seek asylum in a third country violated legal precedent. 

“The Court concludes that the Rule is contrary to law because it presumes ineligible for asylum noncitizens who enter between ports of entry, using a manner of entry that Congress expressly intended should not affect access to asylum,” Tigar wrote in his 35-page ruling. 

Tigar stayed his decision for two weeks, allowing the Biden administration to appeal to a higher court. Within hours of the decision, the Biden administration appealed to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, claiming that it “disagrees” with the court ruling. 

“We remain confident in our position that the Circumvention of Lawful Pathways rule is a lawful exercise of the broad authority granted by the immigration laws,” a DOJ spokesperson said in a statement.