Judge grants delay on asylum limits

A federal judge on Wednesday granted the Biden administration a five-week delay to end far-reaching asylum restrictions, writing in upper-case letters that he was doing so “WITH GREAT RELUCTANCE.”

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan acknowledged in his brief order that attorneys for asylum-seeking families didn’t object to the delay and that the administration wasn’t challenging his decision, just asking for time to prepare.

The Trump-era policy denying migrants rights under U.S. and international law to request asylum on public-health grounds of preventing spread of COVID-19 is now set to end Dec. 21.