Attorney General Todd Rokita defends Hoosiers against lawlessness at the southern border

Attorney General Rokita’s lawsuit targets federal rule change making it easier for aliens to obtain asylum through false claims

Attorney General Todd Rokita is defending Hoosiers with another legal action against the Biden administration’s continued failure to protect Hoosiers and all Americans from ongoing surges of illegal immigration.

This time, Attorney General Rokita is challenging a new federal rule that makes it easier for aliens to obtain asylum in the United States on false premises.

“The current regime in Washington will resort to any tactic, it seems, to encourage illegal aliens to enter our country,” Attorney General Rokita said. “But Hoosiers can rest assured that we will fight even harder to uphold the rule of law than the Biden administration is fighting to destroy it.”

The new federal rule, which goes into effect on May 31, transfers responsibilities for adjudicating aliens’ asylum claims from the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Executive Office of Immigration Review to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) asylum officers. These officers historically have accepted asylum claims much more easily than the DOJ immigration judges who generally subject them to more rigorous scrutiny.

The new rule also eliminates various procedural safeguards — allowing aliens seeking asylum, for example, to just provide oral statements rather than submit claims in writing.

“Leftists would prefer that patriotic Americans not notice these incremental changes,” Attorney General Rokita said. “But they’re all part of an intentional pattern of moving our country toward a radical new era of open borders.”

Illegal immigrants crossing into America often arrive in Indiana within just 48 hours of coming across the southern border. Hoosier communities feel the impact of the lawlessness at the southern border through an increase in fentanyl overdoses, drug trafficking, and human trafficking.