Biden Administration Hit with First Lawsuit Over Border ‘crackdown’; Immigration Groups Sue Biden Over Executive Order

Biden administration hit with first lawsuit over border ‘crackdown’:

The first lawsuit challenging President Biden’s recent executive order on immigration was filed in federal court on Wednesday as Democratic lawmakers pressure the administration to back off from asylum restrictions.

The suit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of two pro-immigration groups, claims the Biden administration failed to provide “advance notice” before implementing “illegal changes” to the US immigration laws.

“We were left with no alternative but to sue,” Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said in a statement.

“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 added.

The complaint alleges that the Biden administration “harmed” immigrant advocacy groups by moving forward with an “Interim Final Rule without first providing notice and an opportunity to comment,” in “violation” of federal law.

The order, issued last week, prevents individuals from applying for asylum when encounters with migrants between ports of entry average 2,500 per day over the course of a week.

The restrictions can be lifted two weeks after crossings average 1,500 per day for seven straight days. —>READ MORE HERE

Immigration Groups Sue Biden Over Executive Order:

Immigration advocacy groups have filed suit against the Biden administration over the president’s executive order which places limits on the number of asylum seekers allowed across the U.S.-Mexico border.

The order, announced last week, was touted by the Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas as a way to tackle the “broken immigration system,” after Congress failed to pass legislation to provide funding to border agencies. It comes ahead of what is expected to be a close election in which immigration regularly ranks among voters’ top issues.

On Wednesday, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other immigrant rights groups announced a joint lawsuit, saying that the executive action shuts off asylum protections for most arrivals, however strong their claim.

“We’re already seeing a system, a program, that is irredeemably defunct,” Krystle Cartagena, managing attorney at RAICES, a Texas-based organization providing legal services to migrants, told Newsweek.

“It is simply incapable of providing folks with meaningful access to counsel,” Cartagena continued.

“So on a day-to-day [basis], we are already struggling with that, with the daily due process violations and abrogation of asylum seekers’ rights to seek the assistance of counsel. This new rule will see an expansion of that.”

The new rules laid out by Biden’s executive order mean a daily cap of 2,500 daily crossings – effectively banning thousands from entering each day – along with shorter timeframes for deportations of those who do make it across the border.

RAICES’ concerns include a shortened window for access to counsel, from around 48 hours down to four, which the attorney said makes it nearly impossible for migrants.

“I was honestly disappointed. That was my initial reaction,” Cartagena told Newsweek. “Then just stress, with the massive amount of confusion that this could engender and the added difficulty that this will cause for asylum seekers and the unnecessary violence that they may be subjected to because of this rule.” —>READ MORE HERE

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