California federal judge Jon S. Tigar dealt a severe blow to Joe Biden’s immigration policy on Tuesday by annulling the strict restrictions on asylum that his government imposed in May after the expiration of Title 42: Donald Trump’s decree that since March of 2020 and over more than three years it had facilitated the expulsion of 2.7 million refugee applicants for public health reasons due to the pandemic.
To compensate for the end of said provision, the federal Administration recovered the norm that had been applied previously, Title 8, only seasoned with new and severe limitations.
Under these new measures, migrants who want to formalize an asylum claim must have previously sought it in a transit country, or have processed an appointment through an application called CBP One. In addition, those who try to jump irregularly and are detained are not only subject to deportation, but “will be barred from re-entry to the US for at least five years, and may be subject to criminal prosecution if they try again.”
The new rules were accompanied by certain facilities for applicants from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Haiti, Cuba and Ukraine, provided they met certain requirements.
Judge Jon Tigar, in estimation of a lawsuit filed by three civil rights defense associations, affirms in his resolution that the restrictions approved in May “cannot remain in force.” Because they are “arbitrary and capricious,” and above all because they violate federal law by which foreigners who arrive on US soil have the right to request asylum, regardless of how they entered the country.
Regarding the special programs for citizens of certain countries in a situation of serious crisis, the judge points out that “they are not significant options” for asylum seekers in general and do not even benefit all applicants from those nations.
In his opinion, Tigar says he is aware of the effectiveness of the policy recently established by Biden, which has in fact reduced migratory flows. But that is not a valid reason to maintain an illegal regulation, he said.
But the effects of the sentence remain to be seen. The judge himself suspended his order for 14 days, at the government’s request, in order to give federal authorities time to prepare and file an appeal.
If the appeal court extends the stay, the measures may remain in effect until the court decides. And then the matter can go to the Supreme Court, which can also stay the annulment while it studies the matter.
Not surprisingly, the Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, stressed that the ruling “does not change anything immediately” nor does it limit the ability to impose sanctions on foreigners who enter the US irregularly.
The resolution came a day after the Biden Administration filed a lawsuit against the decision of the governor of Texas, the far-right Greg Abbott, to build a floating barrier hundreds of meters on the Rio Grande to try to stop immigration to the height of the towns of Piedras Negras, in the Mexican state of Coahuila, and the US town of Eagle Pass. The White House considers the fence, made up of large buoys, “dangerous and illegal” and violates the country’s river navigation laws.
