SAN DIEGO — A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Biden administration to lift Trump-era asylum restrictions that have been a cornerstone of border enforcement since the beginning of COVID-19.
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled in Washington that enforcement must end immediately for families and single adults, saying it violates federal rule-making procedures.
However, his ruling conflicts with another in May by a federal judge in Louisiana that asylum restrictions remain in place.
If Sullivan’s ruling stands, it would upend border enforcement. Migrants have been expelled from the United States more than 2.4 million times since the regulation took effect in March 2020, denying migrants rights to seek asylum under U.