(RepublicanJournal.org) – The Biden administration has attracted a lot of criticism for its failure to control our southern border. Unfortunately for the US, though, the administration is undeniably bad — but some judges are worse. One of Biden’s rare attempts to do something about illegal immigration has just been shot down in court.
Biden Tries To Act on Illegal Migration
In February, the departments of Justice and Homeland Security revealed a new policy aimed at deterring immigrants from entering the US illegally. The goal of the Circumvention of Lawful Pathways rule was to replace the Trump-era Title 42 rule, which the previous administration had used to push illegals back into Mexico. Unfortunately, the Biden administration repealed Title 42 on May 11. This does raise the question of why, if they wanted to replace Title 42 with a new barrier to illegal migration, they didn’t simply leave it in place. Of course, the new proposal was more show than substance.
Under the proposed rule, anyone who traveled to the US via a third country without claiming asylum there and then crossed our border illegally would be automatically deemed ineligible for asylum. The proposal fell far short of a total ban on asylum for illegal immigrants; for example, if someone had claimed asylum in a third country but been refused, entering the US illegally wouldn’t disqualify them from claiming it here. That didn’t stop many of Biden’s fellow Democrats from complaining about it — and pro-immigration activists didn’t stop at complaining. Led by the ACLU, they filed a lawsuit in federal court in California.
Liberal Judge Blocks Rule Change
On July 23, Judge Jon Tigar of the US District Court for Northern California ruled that the proposed policy is “substantively and procedurally invalid” and blocked it. Tigar, who was appointed by former president Barack Obama, blocked the rule under the Administrative Procedure Act, claiming the administration didn’t give enough notice. In fact, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Majorkas gave 30 days’ notice, but the judge said that isn’t enough.
Judge Tigar delayed his block for 14 days to give the administration time to appeal, but the rule is also facing a separate challenge from the Right. Red states along the border say the proposal isn’t a real attempt to deter illegal immigrants — it’s more of a smokescreen to hide the problem by redefining illegal crossings as “lawful pathways.” Biden has never seemed interested in border security, and this half-hearted attempt to do something about it appears to have annoyed both sides of the political divide.
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