The Biden administration’s asylum rule at the border is here to stay for now after an appeals court ruled in favor of the government’s request to put a lower court ruling on hold.
Under the new rule, asylum seekers could be found ineligible for protection in the U.S. if they don't ask and get denied for asylum in another country they pass through first.
Pamela Rioles Saeed is an attorney in Tucson and the vice-chair of the American Immigration Attorneys Association's Arizona chapter. She says asylum cases and initial asylum screenings require days of work to prepare for, but the new rule often forces lawyers to do the process within 48 hours.
"With this rule in place, we have to now be ready to present arguments as to why this person ... shouldn't be, you know, automatically banned from seeking asylum," she said. "We’re having to present these arguments about third countries and whether or not they’re safe in such a short timeframe, you’re setting people up to fail."
The ACLU and other groups sued the Biden administration over the policy this spring, arguing it mirrored a Trump-era policy that had already been ruled illegal.
A lower court sided with the groups last month and ordered the new policy to be vacated. The Biden administration asked to put that ruling hold while it puts together an appeal and the request was granted this month in a 2-1 decision from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
