WASHINGTON, DC – FWD.us President Todd Schulte released the following statement today in response to an initial ruling from U.S. District Judge Jon S. Tigar in the Northern District of California deeming the Biden administration’s asylum ban illegal:

“We welcome Judge Tigar’s ruling which confirms that banning desperate people from seeking asylum is not only cruel and ineffective, it also violates the law.

“It is increasingly clear that there are better ways to manage migration than by recycling transit-based restrictions inspired by the Trump administration. The latest data suggests that the recent decline in unauthorized crossings between ports of entry is a direct result of this Administration’s unprecedented efforts to govern the border through policies that redirect migration into new and safer legal pathways, rather than relying on deterrent policies like the asylum ban or Title 42.

“This ruling presents an opportunity for the Biden administration to pivot and further implement, improve and expand these legal pathways, which are actually yielding positive results. Likewise, if the administration wants to modernize our asylum system, we encourage them to reduce the immigration court backlog by implementing their proposed regulation to allow asylum officers to fully adjudicate asylum claims and give people final decisions on their cases within one year.

“President Biden should proudly seize the momentum of the last few months to continue working towards a more fair, humane, and efficient immigration system. Preserving the asylum system as Congress envisioned is a worthy goal that can be part of that solution.”