18 States Sue Biden Administration Over Redefining ‘Illegal Border Crossings’ as ‘Lawful Pathways’

Missouri and 17 other states have filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration over what they call its “unlawful open-border policies.”

“The situation at the southern border is out of control, all thanks to Joe Biden,” Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “He refuses to carry out his constitutionally mandated responsibilities, so we’re taking him to court to force him to do his job.”

The lawsuit argues that President Joe Biden’s “lawful pathways” rule, which was implemented after the end of Title 42 in May, worsens the situation at the southern border by redefining illegal border crossings as “lawful pathways.”

The COVID-19-era public health measure known as Title 42 allowed the Border Patrol to quickly expel some illegal aliens from the country. When the measure expired on May 11, Biden’s Department of Homeland Security released the “Circumvention of Lawful Pathways Final Rule.”

The rule states that “noncitizens who cross the southwest land border or adjacent coastal borders without authorization after traveling through another country, and without having (1) availed themselves of an existing lawful process, (2) presented at a port of entry at a pre-scheduled time using the CBP One app, or (3) been denied asylum in a third country through which they traveled, are presumed ineligible for asylum unless they meet certain limited exceptions.”

Under the new policy, the Biden administration is encouraging migrants to use the so-called CBP One app to make an appointment at a port of entry, but Erin Dwinell, a senior research associate with The Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, says illegal aliens are simply paroled into the United States.

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