Federal Judge Strikes Down Rule Affecting Illegal Immigrants Seeking Asylum
An immigration rule affecting illegal immigrants, which was finalized at the direction of former President Joe Biden, violates federal law, U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras
The rule had several parts. It forced illegal immigrants seeking asylum, or protection against deportation because of fear of danger if they were sent to their home country, to schedule a time to appear at a port of entry to request asylum. If they didn't, they would not be eligible for asylum, with limited exceptions.
The rule also required illegal immigrants to alert border officers of concerns if they were removed, made it harder for an illegal immigrant to show they're eligible for other forms of deportation protection, and narrowed the window for asylum seekers in U.S. custody to consult with attorneys from 24 hours to four hours.
Contreras vacated the
A DHS spokesperson told The Epoch Times in response to the ruling: 'The Trump administration is committed to restoring the rule of law and common sense to our immigration system, and will continue to fight for the arrest, detention, and removal of aliens who have no right to be in this country.'
Contreras said that most of the components of the rule violate the Immigration and Nationality Act, a law Congress passed that governs major portions of the immigration system, or the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), which requires that officials not impose arbitrary and capricious requirements, Contreras said.
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'Congress could not have been more clear that asylum is available to noncitizens who enter the United States outside ports of entry. Every court to consider the issue agrees,' the judge said.
Government officials had pointed to how Congress stated in the law that they could impose limitations and conditions on asylum, but the same law says those limits must be consistent with the rest of the law.
The requirement that illegal immigrants bring up fear of return is also illegal because it's arbitrary and capricious, according to the ruling.
Government officials said that the previous standard, which mandated that officers ask each illegal immigrant if they were afraid of what would happen to them in their home country if they were deported, was 'unduly suggestive.'
'That may be true. Even so, DHS and DOJ were obligated to replace that procedure with one that complies with the APA,' the judge said.
Narrowing the minimum window for speaking to an attorney or another person of their choosing also violates the APA because the government has not provided evidence showing that a four-hour period provides enough time to speak to that person, Contreras wrote.
The judge did side with the government on the heightened standard for showing eligibility for deportation protection through a Convention against Torture or withholding of removal order, since the Immigration and Nationality Act does not require a specific standard for those orders.
The judge said that his ruling was unlikely to have much impact at this time, given how President Donald Trump ordered the shutdown of the application with which illegal immigrants could make appointments at ports of entry, and how border agent encounters with illegal immigrants have plunged in Trump's second term.
'Defendants request that the Court stay operation of any order granting Plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment for fourteen days to allow for review in the Court of Appeals,' he wrote. 'Because President Trump has separately shut down asylum applications at the southern border, the effects of the Court's order are unlikely to be disruptive. The Court will not stay operation of its order.'
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