Judge Won't Prevent Immigration Agency from Using CBP One (For Now)
A federal judge ruled yesterday that it cannot issue a preliminary injunction that would prevent Customs and Border Protection (CBP) from requiring asylum seekers to obtain an appointment through CBP One (a smartphone app) before applying for asylum.
Earlier this year, Al Otro Lado and Haitian Bridge Alliance brought a lawsuit (AOL et. al v. Mayorkas, Case No. 3:23-cv-01367-AGS-BLM (S.D. Cal.)) against the agency, arguing that the use of CBP One undermined the U.S.’s lawful asylum obligations and contradicted the agency’s own internal policy.
The Biden administration began requiring migrants to use CBP One back in January of this year. The initial roll-out was chaotic and disadvantaged many migrants without access to smartphones, Wi-Fi connections, and large families—all factors which may have exacerbated discrimination against Black and African migrants. For more information, I have a whole section of this newsletter focused just on CBP One.
The request for a preliminary injunction is common in cases like these where the plaintiffs argue that the judge should order the agency to stop a particular practice until the substantive legal questions are worked out. In this case, the judge said that they did not have the authority to issue an injunction. (I won’t pretend to understand the legal reasoning here.)
Since this ruling is still early in the life cycle of the legal case, it does not mean that Al Otro Lado and Haitian Bridge have lost the case, only that the initial attempt to pause the use of CBP One was not successful. CBP will still be able to use CBP One for now.
For more information, read Elliot Spagat’s article for the AP here (“Judge denies bid to prohibit US border officials from turning back asylum-seekers at land crossings”) or read the press release on the American Immigration Council’s website for more information below.
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What I simply don’t understand about pro immigration advocates is their complete ignorance of the fact that there are literally billions of people in the world who would love to come to the United States and be cared for by our taxpayers. Do they see no limit on our ability to provide this care given our inability to provide housing for our own citizens?
People are going to have to take care of their local communities and flourish where they are born. We have to quit overpopulating and destroying our local environments and thinking we can just move somewhere else and start over. There are no more green pastures. Within the US, because we have a commitment to our own citizens, climate change will require massive internal migration as the Colorado River dries up and excessive heat makes Phoenix, Tucson and Las Vegas uninhabitable. They didn’t name it Death Valley for nothing. The rest of the west will continue to burn and millions will have to move to survive. Much of south Florida and many populated areas along the Eastern and Gulf seaboards will be under water. The US will struggle to resettle millions of people in higher and cooler areas where fresh water is available. We will simply be unable to deal with a large influx of immigrants and relocating our own citizens at the same time. The same holds true for most countries. No place will be willing to accept millions of immigrants.