A federal court in California has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a new asylum rule that limits eligibility for safe harbor among immigrants arriving at the southern U.S. border.
U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar granted a request from the American Civil Liberties Union and immigrant rights groups to stop the measure from the Homeland Security and Justice departments, determining that the rule is “likely invalid” because it conflicts with federal asylum laws.
“The public undoubtedly has a pressing interest in fairly and promptly addressing both the harms to asylum applicants and the administrative burdens imposed by the influx of persons seeking asylum,” Tigar wrote in his 45-page ruling. “But shortcutting the law, or weakening the boundary between Congress and the executive, are not the solutions to these problems.”
The new rule from the Trump administration, released last week, denies asylum to most migrants who enter the U.S. at the southern border if they did not first apply for protection in one of the countries they traveled through. It’s a part of the president’s broader crackdown on illegal immigration.
The president has said that the flow of people crossing the U.S.-Mexico border raises both humanitarian and national security issues and argues that he has the right to restrict asylum eligibility, describing an influx of immigrants across the southern border as a crisis. But Tigar said there is a “mountain of evidence” that shows those seeking asylum in Mexico are subjected to violence from the government and others, denied rights under Mexican and international law, and “wrongly returned” to the countries they fled.
Lee Gelernt, an attorney with the ACLU, praised the ruling, saying the court recognized that “the Trump administration was attempting an unlawful end run around asylum protections enacted by Congress.”
The White House promised to fight the decision.
“The tyranny of a dysfunctional system that permits plaintiffs to forum-shop in order to find a single district judge who will purport to dictate immigration policy to the entire nation — even in the face of a contrary ruling by another federal court — must come to an end,” the administration said in a statement. “We intend to pursue all available options to address this meritless ruling and to defend this nation’s borders.”
Tigar’s order came hours after President Trump declared victory in another case challenging the same measure. Earlier Wednesday, Judge Timothy Kelly of the federal district court in the District of Columbia declined to issue a restraining order, allowing the Trump administration to continue enforcement.
[Opinion: Trump’s new asylum rule isn’t a lasting solution but it’s a move in the right direction]
