Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry is leading a coalition of 14 states suing the Biden administration over yet another unlawful immigration rule (Asylum Rule) that largely removes federal immigration judges from reviewing asylum claims and instead gives employees within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) unprecedented authority to grant asylum to migrants outright. The new rule not only violates federal law and bypasses Congress, it also drastically erodes asylum integrity safeguards.
"Biden continues to prioritize non-citizens over American citizens he took an oath to protect," said Attorney General Landry. "He is once again undermining the rule of law and jeopardizing the safety and security of our country. This rule will make an already porous border even easier for drugs, human traffickers, and sexual predators to cross."
The Asylum Rule applies to new arrivals at U.S. borders who are making asylum claims. Federal law requires that immigration judges within the Department of Justice (DOJ) make the final determinations for migrants’ asylum claims. However, under the new Asylum Rule, that power would be largely transferred to DHS employees, which is a direct violation of federal law. This would eliminate immigration judges from the review process in most cases and replaces them with individuals that are far more susceptible to political control within an administration, guaranteeing an increase in the rate of false asylum claims being granted.
The coalition argues that Biden administration failed to follow multiple laws and statutes to include the Immigration and Nationality Act, the Homeland Security Act, Secure Fence Act of 2006 and the Administrative Procedure Act. Furthermore, the Biden administration failed to analyze the interaction between the Asylum Rule and its proposed termination of Title 42, set to become effective on May 23, which will cause a massive increase in illegal immigration and non-meritorious asylum claims. The Asylum Rule will go into effect merely eight days later, causing an exponential increase in illegal border crossings. The effect will be to stack a crisis upon a crisis.
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