During a surge in unaccompanied children and women from Mexico in summer 2014, Sen. Dianne Feinstein advised President Barack Obama to use “very broad power” to limit asylum — similar to the Trump administration’s current approach to citizens of Central American countries marching toward the U.S. border.
In a letter obtained by the Washington Examiner, Feinstein talked up “an argument that there is sufficient flexibility in current law for the government to respond to the current crisis and that further legislation is not needed.” The California Democrat referred to Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows the president to temporarily limit or suspend entry of would-be immigrants if the president considers their entry “detrimental to the interests of the United States.”
