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Courts give conflicting orders on asylum limits at border

Asylum Border Restrictions
Posted at 8:52 AM, Mar 05, 2022
and last updated 2022-03-05 11:01:32-05

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld sweeping asylum restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 but restored protections to keep migrant families from being expelled to their home countries without a chance to plead their cases.

Almost simultaneously, a federal judge in another case ruled Friday that unaccompanied children are wrongly exempted from the restrictions.

The conflicting decisions inject legal uncertainty into the future of rules that deny migrants a chance to seek asylum on grounds that it risks spreading COVID-19.

Authorities have expelled migrants more than 1.6 million times at the Mexican border without a chance to seek humanitarian protection.