NEW ORLEANS -- Pandemic-related restrictions on migrants seeking asylum on the southern border must continue, a judge ruled Friday in an order blocking the Biden administration's plan to lift them early next week.
The Justice Department said the administration will appeal, but the ruling sharply increases the odds that restrictions will not end as planned Monday. A delay would be a blow to advocates who say rights to seek asylum are being trampled, and a relief to some Democrats who fear that a widely anticipated increase in illegal crossings would put them on the defensive.
In Tijuana, Mexico, Yesivet Evangelina Aguilar, 34, cupped her face in her hands and sobbed when she learned of the decision. "I feel like there is no hope left," said Aguilar, who fled the Mexican state of Guerrero nearly a year ago after her brother was killed. "It feels so bad."
Aguilar was blocked from applying for asylum when she and her 10-year-old daughter went to the Tijuana-San Diego port of entry nine months ago. On Friday, she was lying in a tent at Agape Mision Mundial, where scores of migrants are camped. Some have been there for months or years.
Aguilar's life in waiting has been not only tedious but dangerous. On Thursday night, a fellow migrant was shot in the neck by a stray bullet from a shootout by the shelter.
Migrants have been expelled more than 1.9 million times since March 2020 under Title 42, a public health provision that denies them a chance to request asylum under U.S. law and international treaty on the grounds of preventing the spread of covid-19.
U.S. District Judge Robert Summerhays in Lafayette, La., ordered that the restrictions stay in place while a lawsuit led by Arizona and Louisiana -- and joined by 22 other states -- plays out in court.
Summerhays sided with the states in ruling that the administration failed to follow procedures requiring public notice and time to gather public comment on the plan to end the restrictions. And he said the states made the case that they would suffer harm if the restrictions ended.
The judge cited what he said were the government's own predictions that ending the restrictions would probably increase border crossings threefold, to as many as 18,000 people daily. That, he said, would result in more migrants being processed in congregate settings where contagious disease can be spread.
"The record also includes evidence supporting the Plaintiff States' position that such an increase in border crossings will increase their costs for health-care reimbursements and education services. These costs are not recoverable," Summerhays wrote.
The Justice Department said Friday that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had legally exercised its authority in moving to end the pandemic restriction.
Many who crossed the border Friday at Eagle Pass, Texas, knew little or nothing about the issue. Many were from Cuba, Colombia, Nicaragua and Venezuela -- nationalities that have mostly been spared from the asylum ban because high costs, strained diplomatic relations or other considerations make it difficult for the U.S. to fly them home.
Title 42 has affected mostly people from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, many of whom have been waiting in Mexican border towns after being denied the right to seek asylum. Mexico has agreed to accept migrants from those three Central American countries who were turned back by the U.S. and last month also started taking in limited numbers of Cubans and Nicaraguans who have been turned away.
Summerhays, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, had already ruled in favor of the states by halting efforts to wind down use of the pandemic-era rule. He said last month that a phaseout would saddle states with "unrecoverable costs on health care, law enforcement, detention, education and other services."
"We are gratified that the District Court has issued this Preliminary Injunction to stop the Biden Administration from rescinding Title 42 and turning our already unimaginably catastrophic border nightmare into an even more unimaginable hellscape," former Trump aide Stephen Miller said in a news release from the organization America First.
An American Civil Liberties Union attorney derided the decision as "flatly wrong."
"Title 42 may only be used for public health purposes, but the states that brought this lawsuit appear to care only about covid restrictions when they involve asylum-seekers and are using the case as a transparent attempt to manage the border," Lee Gelernt said. "That hypocrisy should not be rewarded."
Rep. Raul Ruiz, a Democrat from California and chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said the ruling was "outrageous, ridiculous and erodes our asylum system."
Republican members of Congress hailed the ruling.
Information for this article was contributed by Julie Watson of The Associated Press.
A Border Patrol agent instructs migrants who had crossed the Rio Grande river into the U.S. in Eagle Pass, Texas, Friday, May 20, 2022. The Eagle Pass area has become increasingly a popular crossing corridor for migrants, especially those from outside Mexico and Central America, under Title 42 authority, which expels migrants without a chance to seek asylum on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19. A judge was expected to rule on a bid by Louisiana and 23 other states to keep Title 42 in effect before the Biden administration was to end it Monday. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)
Migrants who had crossed the Rio Grande river into the U.S. are taken away by U.S. Border Patrol agents in Eagle Pass, Texas, Friday, May 20, 2022. The Eagle Pass area has become increasingly a popular crossing corridor for migrants, especially those from outside Mexico and Central America, under Title 42 authority, which expels migrants without a chance to seek asylum on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19. A judge was expected to rule on a bid by Louisiana and 23 other states to keep Title 42 in effect before the Biden administration was to end it Monday. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)
Migrants who had crossed the Rio Grande river into the United States are taken away by U.S. Border Patrol agents in Eagle Pass, Texas, Friday, May 20, 2022. As U.S. officials anxiously waited, many of the migrants crossing the border from Mexico on Friday were oblivious to a pending momentous court ruling on whether to maintain pandemic-related powers that deny a chance to seek asylum on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)
Migrants who had crossed the Rio Grande river into the U.S. are under custody of National Guard members as they await the arrival of U.S. Border Patrol agents in Eagle Pass, Texas, Friday, May 20, 2022. As U.S. officials anxiously waited, many of the migrants crossing the border from Mexico on Friday were oblivious to a pending momentous court ruling on whether to maintain pandemic-related powers that deny a chance to seek asylum on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)
Ana Rita Pinales, 28, from the Dominican Republic, right, and other migrants who had crossed the Rio Grande river into the U.S., are under custody of National Guard members as they await the arrival of U.S. Border Patrol agents in Eagle Pass, Texas, Friday, May 20, 2022. The Eagle Pass area has become increasingly a popular crossing corridor for migrants, especially those from outside Mexico and Central America, under Title 42 authority, which expels migrants without a chance to seek asylum on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19. A judge was expected to rule on a bid by Louisiana and 23 other states to keep Title 42 in effect before the Biden administration was to end it Monday. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)
Migrants who had crossed the Rio Grande river into the U.S. wait to be processed by U.S. Border Patrol agents in Eagle Pass, Texas, Friday, May 20, 2022. The Eagle Pass area has become increasingly a popular crossing corridor for migrants, especially those from outside Mexico and Central America, under Title 42 authority, which expels migrants without a chance to seek asylum on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19. A judge was expected to rule on a bid by Louisiana and 23 other states to keep Title 42 in effect before the Biden administration was to end it Monday. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)
Migrants who had crossed the Rio Grande river into the U.S. wait to be processed by Border Patrol agents in Eagle Pass, Texas, Friday, May 20, 2022. The Eagle Pass area has become increasingly a popular crossing corridor for migrants, especially those from outside Mexico and Central America, under Title 42 authority, which expels migrants without a chance to seek asylum on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19. A judge was expected to rule on a bid by Louisiana and 23 other states to keep Title 42 in effect before the Biden administration was to end it Monday. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)
Migrants who had crossed the Rio Grande river into the U.S. are under custody of National Guard members as they await the arrival of U.S. Border Patrol agents in Eagle Pass, Texas, Friday, May 20, 2022. The Eagle Pass area has become increasingly a popular crossing corridor for migrants, especially those from outside Mexico and Central America, under Title 42 authority, which expels migrants without a chance to seek asylum on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19. A judge was expected to rule on a bid by Louisiana and 23 other states to keep Title 42 in effect before the Biden administration was to end it Monday. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)
Migrants who had crossed the Rio Grande river into the U.S., remove their shoelaces and others personal items while under custody of National Guard members as they await the arrival of U.S. Border Patrol agents in Eagle Pass, Texas, Friday, May 20, 2022. As U.S. officials anxiously waited, many of the migrants crossing the border from Mexico on Friday were oblivious to a pending momentous court ruling on whether to maintain pandemic-related powers that deny a chance to seek asylum on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)