NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Pandemic-related restrictions on migrants seeking asylum at the southern border must continue, a judge said Friday in an order blocking the Biden administration’s plan to remove them early next week.
The ruling was just the latest court case to thwart the president’s proposed immigration policy on the US border with Mexico.
The justice ministry said the administration would appeal, but the ruling sharply increased the chances of the restrictions not ending as planned on Monday. The postponement would be a blow to defenders who say the asylum rights have been trampled on, and a relief to some Democrats who fear the much-anticipated increase in illegal crossings will put them on the defensive in an already difficult midterm year.
In Tijuana, Mexico, 34-year-old Yesivet Evangeline Aguilar wrapped her arms around her face and sobbed when she learned of the decision from an Associated Press reporter. “I feel there is no hope left,” said Aguilar, who fled the Mexican state of Guerrero nearly a year ago after her brother was killed. “It feels so bad.”
Aguilar was blocked by US authorities from applying for asylum when she and her 10-year-old daughter went to the Tijuana-San Diego port nine months ago. On Friday, she lay in a tent at the Agape Mision Mundial, where dozens of migrants were camping. Some have been there for months or years. Aguilar’s waiting life was not only annoying but dangerous. On Thursday night, another migrant was shot in the neck by accidental bullets from a shootout in front of the shelter.
Migrants have been expelled more than 1.9 million times since March 2020 under Title 42, a public health provision denying them a chance to seek asylum under US law and an international treaty on the grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19.
U.S. District Attorney Robert Somerhays in Lafayette, Louisiana, has ordered the restrictions to remain in effect as the Arizona-Louisiana trial, which is now joined by 22 other states, is played in court.
Somerhace sided with the United States, saying President Joe Biden’s administration had failed to comply with administrative procedures requiring public notice and time to gather public comment on the plan to end the restrictions. And he said the states have said they will suffer if the restrictions are lifted.
The judge cited what he said were the government’s own estimates that lifting the restrictions would likely triple the border crossing, to about 18,000 a day. This, he added, would lead to more migrants being treated in congregational conditions where a contagious disease could spread. ‘The record also includes evidence supporting the applicants’ position that such an increase in border crossings will increase their costs of rehabilitating healthcare and education services. These costs are not recoverable, “Summerhays writes.
The Justice Department said Friday that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has legally exercised its powers to end pandemic restrictions.
Many who crossed the border on Friday in Eagle Pass, Texas, knew little or nothing about the problem. Many are from Cuba, Colombia, Nicaragua and Venezuela, nationalities mostly spared the asylum ban, as high costs, strained diplomatic relations or other considerations make it difficult for the United States to bring them home.
Title 42 affected people from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, many of whom were waiting in Mexican border towns after being denied asylum by the US government. Mexico has agreed to accept migrants from the three Central American countries returned by the United States, and last month also began accepting a limited number of Cubans and Nicaraguans who were rejected by US authorities.
Nolberto Avila, a small coffee maker who escaped threats of violence in Colombia and left his mother and brother and sister there to manage the harvest, had never heard of Title 42 on social media channels that migrants consult to determine who they can trust and who and what to avoid. The online chat directed him to the Eagle Pass after he flew to Cancun and took buses to the US border.
“I feel good about being here,” said Avila, 30, who spent $ 3,000 on airline tickets and other travel expenses to bribe Mexican soldiers. His final destination is Los Angeles.
Somerhace, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, had already spoken out in favor of the United States, halting efforts to halt the use of the pandemic-era rule. Last month, he said the phasing out would burden countries with “non-reimbursable costs for health, law enforcement, detention, education and other services”.
Title 42 is the second major Trump-era asylum policy on the Mexican border, which was rejected by Biden only to be revived by a Trump-appointed judge.
“We are pleased that the district court issued this preliminary injunction to stop the Biden administration from repealing Title 42 and turning our already unimaginably catastrophic border nightmare into an even more unimaginable hellish landscape,” former Trump aide Stephen Miller said in a statement. the press from the organization America in the first place.
A lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union ridiculed the decision as “completely wrong.”
“Title 42 can only be used for public health purposes, but states that have filed this lawsuit appear to be only interested in COVID’s restrictions when involving asylum seekers and using the case as a transparent border management experience,” Lee said. Gellernt. “This hypocrisy should not be rewarded.”
MP Raul Ruiz, a Democrat from California and chairman of the Spanish Congressional Group, said the decision was “outrageous, ridiculous and undermines our asylum system”.
Republican members of Congress welcomed the decision.
“The courts are doing the right thing again,” said North Dakota Republican Sen. Kevin Kramer.
Even some of Biden’s party have backed maintaining the pandemic limit.
“Today’s decision does not change the fact that there is a border crisis and there must be a detailed plan that can be implemented before Title 42 is repealed,” said Sen. Mark Kelly, an Arizona Democrat who faces a severe re-election challenge.
Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments about allowing the administration to force asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for hearings in the U.S. Immigration Court. This case, which challenges a policy known as “Stay in Mexico,” originated in Amarillo, Texas. It was reinstated in December by order of a judge and remains in force pending litigation.
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Spagat reports from Eagle Pass, Texas. Associated Press reporter Julie Watson of Tijuana, Mexico, contributed to the report.
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