A group of organizations that support immigrants, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), filed a lawsuit challenging the asylum process at the southern border. They argue that a similar plan by the Trump administration was previously stopped by the courts, so the Biden administration’s changes should also be considered illegal for the same reasons. The organizations involved in the lawsuit are the ACLU, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, and the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES). This is the first legal challenge to the Biden administration’s new asylum policy.

The new policy limits asylum applications when the number of migrants caught entering the U.S. between official border crossings reaches 2,500 per day. Recently, there have been over 4,000 encounters per day, so the policy took effect right away. When the daily encounters drop to 1,500 or fewer on average over seven days, asylum processing will be allowed again. The last time numbers were this low was during the COVID-19 pandemic in July 2020. Exceptions to the policy include people with severe medical emergencies, children traveling alone, and victims of human trafficking.

The lawsuit also claims that the new policy breaks federal immigration law. The group argues that Congress has not given the Executive Branch the power to enact this type of action. They also point out problems with the CBP One app, which is the only way for migrants to schedule interviews at official border crossings, making it even harder to apply for asylum.

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