ARIZONA NEWS
Arizona and 2 other states sue President Biden to stop end of Title 42 COVID border limits
A couple from Russia seeking asylum wait near the San Ysidro Port of Entry into the United States, in Tijuana, Mexico, Thursday, March 17, 2022. Several asylum-seeking families from Russia and Ukraine are being ordered to leave Mexico's busiest border crossing with the United States, where U.S. officials are blocking them from seeking refuge under sweeping restrictions designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
PHOENIX – Arizona joined two other states Monday to file a lawsuit against President Joe Biden for lifting the ban on asylum-seekers at the U.S-Mexico border that is based on public health policy.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday that it would lift the asylum ban, known as Title 42, next month.
Attorneys general from Louisiana, where the suit was filed in the Western District Court, and Missouri also are suing the Biden administration, citing the move is “profoundly illegal” and will create more strain on border communities.
“It’s not about the policy, it’s about following the law,” Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show on Monday.
Under the ban, which ends May 23, border officials have turned away migrants because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The policy went into effect in March 2020.
The lawsuit argues the White House didn’t “conduct the statutorily required notice and comment process.”
The seven-week gap between Friday’s order and the expiration of the asylum ban late next month is meant to allow officials time to increase staffing at the border, including erecting tents for an expected influx of asylum-seekers. It also allows for government officials to vaccinate more migrants at the border.
“I would anticipate seeing more states join this [suit],” Brnovich told KTAR News.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
