A U.S. judge on Tuesday blocked a rule that allows U.S. authorities to quickly remove migrants who crossed the border from Mexico without the opportunity to apply for asylum.
The magistrate, Emmet Sullivan, has indicated that this policy was «arbitrary and capricious» and violated the standards of the Administrative Procedures Act because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) «failed to adequately consider alternatives and the policy did not rationally fulfill its stated purpose.»
«It is unreasonable for the CDC to assume that it can ignore the consequences of any actions it chooses to take in seeking to accomplish its objectives, particularly when those actions included the extraordinary decision to suspend the codified procedural and substantive rights of noncitizens seeking safety,» the judge has noted, referring to the violence migrants often face once they are removed.
This rule was drafted during the tenure of former President Donald Trump during the COVID-19 pandemic and was rescued by the Biden Administration. Without this measure, the U.S. government is left without one of the key tools it had deployed to address the influx of migrants, reports CNN.
According to the judge, a large number of foreigners who showed up at the border were not allowed to apply for asylum, so they were immediately expelled to their country of origin, reports the newspaper ‘The Hill’.
However, the White House would have requested a suspension of the ruling for five weeks, according to CNN.
