An immigrant advocacy group has threatened to sue the Biden administration over their planned U.S. asylum policy reforms. The changes to the existing policy are expected to be announced within the next few weeks.
The new rules would block migrants from seeking asylum in the United States if they had not first attempted to gain asylum in one of the countries they crossed through in order to reach the U.S. border.
Director of litigation at the National Immigrant Justice Center Keren Zwic has stated that the new rule would not win against legal action brought forth against it by her organization and its partner groups. President Biden’s recent reforms to the asylum policy have been the result of the added pressure put on the administration by the GOP over the influx of migrants who have illegally entered the country.
Zwic has noted that the proposed change would “unlawfully deprived access to asylum based on the manner of entry and/or transit route,” which would mean that it would be deemed unlawful by the federal courts, much like similar rules during the Trump administration were blocked for being unlawful.
Four senior Department of Homeland Security officials have said that they anticipate the announcement of the new rules in the coming weeks. Border patrol is currently setting up more phone booths to be used for interviews in order to determine which migrants are eligible for asylum. Officials have speculated that with the new policy, those who are not eligible for asylum would be quickly expelled from the country.
Close to 300 advocacy groups have signed a letter calling for Biden to not enforce this rule change.
