Judge orders lifting of asylum restrictions

A federal judge yesterday ordered the Biden administration to lift Trump-era asylum restrictions that have been a cornerstone of border enforcement since the beginning of Covid-19. US District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled in Washington that enforcement must end immediately for families and single adults, calling the ban ‘‘arbitrary and capricious’’. The administration has not applied it to children travelling alone. Within hours, the Justice Department asked the judge to let the order take effect December 21, giving it five weeks to prepare.