A federal judge in California blocked the Trump administration on Monday from requiring asylum seekers to stay in Mexico while their cases move through the immigration courts.
U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg granted an injunction halting the policy, which will take effect Friday. He also gave the Trump administration two days to allow the migrants in the lawsuit to enter the U.S.
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The order from Seeborg, who was nominated by President Barack Obama, is the latest blow to the Trump administration as it works to address what it says is a humanitarian and national security crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. President Trump has implemented a number of policies targeting asylum seekers in an effort to stem the flow of migrants crossing the southern border.
Most of the Trump administration’s efforts, however, have been blocked by the federal courts.
The policy at the center of Seeborg’s order is the Migrant Protection Protocols, under which asylum seekers will be returned to Mexico for the duration of immigration proceedings.
His ruling comes just a week after Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who submitted her resignation Sunday, said the Department of Homeland Security would be expanding the Migrant Protection Protocols and begin requiring more migrants from Central America to remain in Mexico for the duration of their immigration proceedings.
