Legal challenges threaten Biden's border plan as Title 42 ends

MEXICO: The U.S. on Friday ended COVID-19 border restrictions that blocked many migrants at the border with Mexico, immediately replacing the so-called Title 42 order with a sweeping new asylum regulation meant to deter illegal crossings.

But several last-minute court actions added confusion to how the new border policies will play out in coming days.

Just before Title 42 was set to expire at midnight on May 11, immigration advocates represented by the American Civil Liberties Union filed a legal challenge to the new asylum bars, claiming they violate U.S. laws and international agreements.

Advocates argue the new regulation, put in place by Democratic President Joe Biden to curb illegal crossings, resembles restrictions issued by former President Donald Trump, his Republican predecessor. The rights groups successfully blocked the Trump rules in court and asked the same California-based judge to block these as well.

Marsha Espinosa, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, defended the Biden regulation, saying it "seeks to incentivize migrants to use lawful pathways" instead of crossing the border illegally.

Chaotic scenes unfolded of migrants scrambling to enter the country on Thursday before Title 42 expired and the new rule went into effect. The regulation presumes most migrants are ineligible for asylum if they passed through other nations without first seeking protection elsewhere, or if they failed to use legal pathways for U.S. entry, which Biden has expanded.

Thousands of migrants have waded through rivers, climbed walls and scrambled up embankments onto U.S. soil in recent days, hoping to be processed before midnight.

Some migrants turned themselves in to border officials. Others tried to cross undetected.

In Matamoros, Mexico, on Thursday afternoon groups crossed the Rio Grande River in chin-high water. Some carried tiny babies and bags of belongings above their heads to make it into Brownsville, Texas.