Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the administration of US President Joe Biden, for what he calls an illegal use of an app developed by the federal government that helps asylum seekers, CBP One, arguing that it is used to circumvent federal law.
Paxton alleges that CBP One is “illegally pre-approving” asylum seekers to cross the southern border of the United States. and allowing them to “go wherever they please,” according to the lawsuit. The immigrants go to cities that have had problems with the influx of immigrants from the border, such as New York, Chicago or Denver.
This has been another attempt by Texas, which has sparred with the Biden Administration over the border for years, to try to curb illegal migration following the end of Title 42, the pandemic-era policy that allowed migrants to be expelled. quickly from the border. The lawsuit focuses on a recently implemented asylum rule, which involves that anyone who crosses the border is not eligible for asylum if they did not use the application. However, migrants have reported that the app is difficult and doesn’t always work.
“Neither the app nor Border Patrol officers at the southern border ask if illegal immigrants are seeking asylum, nor do they validate any claims for protection. the Biden administration is inviting tens of thousands of aliens to Texas, releasing them into the country and inflicting severe costs on the state of Texas,” Paxton said in the lawsuit.
CBP One debuted during the Trump administration, and the Biden administration revamped and expanded it in preparation for this transition from Title 42 to the new policy. It offers asylum seekers a way to schedule appointments, submit documents and present their cases to immigration officials, a right guaranteed under international law, before reaching the border.
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