Texas sues the US federal government; says app for asylum seekers encourages migration

The state of Texas has filed a lawsuit against the administration of President Joe Biden in an attempt to scrap a recently implemented asylum rule, arguing that the app migrants use to schedule border appointments to enter the United States encourages immigration. illegal.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday is the latest legal challenge attacking aspects of the federal government’s plan to deal with immigration after the lifting of a pandemic-era restriction on asylum known as Title 42.

In the complaint, Texas argues that the asylum rule encourages the use of the cell phone app —named CBP One— so that migrants who do not have proper documentation make an appointment to appear at a port of entry and seek to enter the United States. Joined.

Texas claims that Washington is basically encouraging people to come to the United States even if they don’t have the legal grounds to stay.

“The Biden administration deliberately crafted this app with the goal of illegally pre-approving more aliens to enter the country and go where they please once they arrive,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a press release.

The complaint was filed in the Western District of Texas.

Although the lawsuit revolves around the app, it seeks to dismiss the entire new asylum plan. The rule went into effect after Title 42 expired on May 11. The order makes it extremely difficult for migrants who traveled to the southern border to obtain asylum if they do not first apply for protection in a country they passed through on their way to the United States or if they do not apply through the app.

The use of the application is a fundamental part of the government’s plan to create a more orderly system at the border, where migrants must schedule an appointment in advance, but when the app was launched in January it received strong criticism due to technological problems and to the fact that since then the demand has far exceeded the available spaces. Migrants can make appointments for a particular port of entry, five of which are in Texas.

Texas argues that, under federal law, people who enter the country illegally — with rare exceptions — should be repatriated, but that the app doesn’t check whether migrants who make appointments would be eligible for exceptions. The state argues that the Biden administration’s use of the app therefore essentially encourages people to come to the United States even if they are not eligible. Texas also argues that it has to face a financial burden from migrants who enter the country for things like health care or education.

The new asylum-related rule has also been criticized by rights groups who argue that the United States has an obligation to offer asylum to those in urgent need. They have filed a lawsuit in which they also seek to dismiss the measure. Texas is also part of a lawsuit accusing the federal government of exceeding its authority by allowing up to 360,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to enter the United States each year on humanitarian parole.