A federal judge struck down new asylum restrictions that Biden officials have touted as an effective tool against illegal immigration - with the judge finding the policy was not generous enough to "asylum seekers."

The rule, known as Circumvention of Legal Pathways, is designed to incentivize immigrants to use new "legal" channels the administration is using to get control of the southern border.

Judge Jon Tigar of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, an Obama appointee, struck the rule down as "arbitrary and capricious."

Judge blocks immigration policy

Under the rule, immigrants are presumed ineligible for asylum if they do not first seek asylum in another country while in transit to the U.S.

However, the rule is fairly permissive. Immigrants can get exceptions if they schedule a border appointment using a mobile app, or even if they have difficulty using the app.

Tigar said the rule is "arbitrary and capricious" because it limits asylum in ways Congress never intended, such as by barring asylum for illegal immigrants who enter between ports of entry. The administration cannot justify limitations on asylum by making other immigration pathways available, he added.

"The Court concludes that the Rule is contrary to law because it presumes ineligible for asylum noncitizens who enter between ports of entry, using a manner of entry that Congress expressly intended should not affect access to asylum," he wrote.

"Legal pathways"

The judge said that asylum is "not meaningfully available" to many immigrants under the administration's parole programs. These include a "country-specific" program allowing entry for up to 30,000 immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Ukraine.

Tigar also argued that seeking asylum in a country other than the United States, such as Mexico, is not a "viable option" for many immigrants.

"While they wait for an adjudication, applicants for asylum must remain in Mexico, where migrants are generally at heightened risk of violence by both state and non-state actors,” he wrote.

Lastly, the judge said the CBP One mobile app is unreliable because of technical issues and language barriers for non-English speakers.

Biden the border hawk?

Biden's Department of Homeland Security pledged to appeal the decision, saying it would not impact "our ability to deliver consequences for unlawful entry."

Critics on the left have condemned the Biden rule as a reboot of the Trump agenda despite its generous loopholes, which have allowed hundreds of thousands of immigrants into the country.

The Biden administration has said the new scheme is bringing illegal border crossings down, but Republicans say the decrease is misleading and that Biden is merely trying to mitigate the perception of a disaster by funneling otherwise illegal immigrants through "legal" channels.