U.S. asks court to end asylum limits

EL PASO — Tensions remained high at the U.S-Mexico border Tuesday amid uncertainty over the future of restrictions on asylum-seekers, with the Biden administration asking the Supreme Court not to lift the limits before Christmas.

The U.S. government made its plea in a filing a day after Chief Justice John Roberts issued a temporary order to keep the pandemic-era limits on migrants in place.

Before Roberts issued that order, the restrictions had been slated to expire Wednesday.

The federal government acknowledged ending the restrictions will likely lead to “disruption and a temporary increase in unlawful border crossings.” But the government asked the court to reject efforts by a group of conservative-leaning states to maintain a measure that allows officials to expel many asylum-seekers.

Migrants have been denied rights to seek asylum under U.S. and international law 2.5 million times since March 2020 on the grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19 under a public-health rule called Title 42.

With the decision on what comes next going down to the wire, pressure is building in communities along both sides of the U.S-Mexico border.

In El Paso, Democratic Mayor Oscar Leeser warned that shelters across the border in Ciudad Juárez were packed to capacity with an estimated 20,000 migrants who are prepared to cross into the U.S.

The city rushed to expand migrant accommodations by converting large buildings into shelters. Local officials also hope to relieve pressure on shelters by chartering buses to other cities in Texas or nearby states.