US government to appeal ruling that removes restriction on asylum seekers

• Officials made the announcement on Wednesday.
• A judge set a deadline to lift asylum restrictions.
• The Biden administration is appealing to keep Title 42 in place.

Officials offered details about lifting restrictions on asylum seekers in the US. The Biden administration will appeal a ruling that removes the restriction on asylum seekers.

The United States government announced Wednesday that it will appeal a court ruling that would lift the asylum restrictions that have become a cornerstone of border enforcement in recent years, according to The Associated Press. However, there is no indication that the appeal would overturn the December 21 deadline that a federal judge set for ending restrictions used to remove asylum seekers.

US government will appeal ruling that removes restriction on asylum seekers

The restrictions went into effect in March 2020 on the grounds of preventing the spread of Covid-19, thus denying migrants the right to seek asylum enshrined in US and international law, according to AP. The Department of Homeland Security indicated that it would file an appeal with the Federal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to challenge some aspects of the ruling issued in November by US District Judge Emmet Sullivan that ordered the government to withdraw the restrictions on asylum.

The AP reports that Biden administration officials say the Department of Homeland Security continues to prepare to lift the restrictions on December 21 as directed by Sullivan. Such restrictions were implemented by the administration of former President Donald Trump at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The practice was authorized by Title 42, part of a broader 1944 law

The practice was authorized by Title 42, part of a broader 1944 law that covers public health and has been used to carry out more than 2.4 million expulsions of migrants. Sullivan has indicated that the expulsion of immigrants under Title 42 is «arbitrary and capricious».

And immigrant rights groups have argued that the use of Title 42 unfairly harms people fleeing persecution and that the pandemic was a pretext used by the Trump administration to reduce immigration. A coalition of conservative-leaning states wants to keep in place the public health rule that allows many asylum seekers to be sent back at the southern border of the United States.

The Biden administration also seriously considered a proposal that prohibited migrants from applying for asylum

According to the Los Angeles Times, at the beginning of November 2022, a federal judge ordered the Biden administration to lift the restrictions on asylum imposed during the Trump’s presidency, which had been the cornerstone of border security since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

CNN reports that the Biden administration also seriously considered a proposal that would bar migrants from seeking asylum at the US-Mexico border if they were able to receive refuge in another country through which they had passed.

The restrictions have been applied unevenly

The restrictions have been applied unevenly by nationality, falling largely on migrants from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador — as well as on Mexicans — because Mexico admits them when they are expelled by US.

Last month, Mexico began accepting Venezuelans who were removed from the United States under Title 42 as well, causing a sharp decline in Venezuelan arrivals at the southern US border. Asylum restrictions have been used by the Biden administration to expel unaccompanied migrant families and adults, though not children who arrived unaccompanied by an adult.