Texas Sues the Biden Administration Over New Asylum Rule

On Tuesday, the state of Texas filed a lawsuit against President Joe Biden's administration over a newly-introduced asylum rule allowing migrants to set up appointments at the U.S.-Mexico border via a phone app so as to seek asylum in the United States.

RELATED: 

Colombian President's Daughter Sets Foundation to Help Migrants

"The Biden Administration deliberately conceived of this phone app with the goal of illegally pre-approving more foreign aliens to enter the country and go where they please once they arrive," Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said, accusing Biden of encouraging illegal immigration.

The state argued that the app, known as CBP One, doesn't verify whether the migrants seeking appointments would qualify for entering the United States and therefore essentially encourages people to come to the country even though they don't have legal basis to stay.

More asylum seekers would increase the financial burden of Texas through things like health care and education, argued the state.

The Biden administration has been trying to build a more orderly asylum order with the app being the core of the plan. But the app has been criticized for technological and procedural problems since it was rolled out in January.

On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) criticized the Texas lawsuit, pointing out that the Biden administration's policies have reduced illegal immigration by over 70 percent since the end of Title 42.

“Lawful pathways like making an appointment to appear at a port of entry using the CBP One app allow us to process migrants in a safe, orderly, and humane way and reduce unlawful immigration. This is particularly critical at a time when Congress has failed to reform our broken immigration system," the DHS said.