Biden asylum rule defended in court

Policy is different from Trump administration’s, lawyer argues in hearing

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration argued Wednesday that its new asylum rule is different from versions put forward under President Donald Trump in a court hearing before a judge who threw out Trump’s attempts to limit asylum on the U.S.-Mexico border.

“2023 is not 2019,” said Erez Reuveni, the Department of Justice lawyer who argued the case.

The rule makes it extremely difficult for migrants who come directly to the southern border to get asylum unless they use a government app to make an appointment or they have already tried to seek protection in a country they passed through on their way to the U.S.

Opponents say it’s essentially a rehash of Trump efforts — a question that gave the online hearing Wednesday a sense of deja vu. The San Francisco-based federal judge who will decide the case, Jon S. Tigar, ruled against the Trump administration’s two attempts to limit asylum.

President Joe Biden’s administration instituted its rule on May 11 with the expiration of a covid-19 restriction known as Title 42 that had limited asylum-seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border. The lawsuit challenging the new rule is being heard as congressional Republicans are attacking the administration for what they say is a failure to control the roughly 2,000-mile border with Mexico.

The administration argues that its rule encourages migrants to use lawful pathways into the U.S. and prevents chaos at the border. But immigration rights groups suing to get rid of it say it endangers migrants and is illegal.

At the outset of Wednesday’s hearing, Tigar said he would have more questions for the government than the groups trying to stop the asylum rule. He also referenced his history with Trump’s attempts to limit asylum.

“I read somewhere that 2023 would be a good year for sequels,” Tigar told Reuveni as the lawyer prepared to begin his arguments.

Reuveni argued that the Biden rule is different from Trump’s attempts to limit asylum, noting that exceptions are being granted at a rate of 9%.

“This is not a toothless exception,” he said.

Katrina Eiland, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing the immigrant rights organizations who sued over the Biden rule, argued Wednesday that it violates immigration law that allows people to seek asylum wherever they arrive on the border.

“Thousands of people with valid claims … have been ordered removed and in many cases removed to likely persecution. This rule has consequences,” Eiland said.

Tigar was appointed by President Barack Obama. Trump derided him as an “Obama judge” after Tigar rejected a policy barring people from applying for asylum except at an official border entry point. Trump’s remark prompted U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to weigh in to defend the impartiality of judges.

Tigar also ruled against the Trump administration’s efforts to limit asylum to people who don’t apply for protection in a country they travel through before coming to the U.S. The measure would have applied to children traveling alone, while the Biden rule does not.

The Supreme Court eventually allowed that Trump rule to go into effect. But the one barring people from applying for asylum except at an official border entry point was caught up in litigation and never took effect.

Immigrant rights groups say the Biden rule forces migrants to seek protection in countries that don’t have the same robust asylum system and human rights protections as the United States and leaves them in a dangerous limbo. They also argue that the CBP One app that the government wants migrants to use doesn’t have enough appointments and isn’t available in enough languages.

But Reuveni argued that there has been real progress in other countries such as Mexico, Belize and Costa Rica so that migrants can seek protection there.