WASHINGTON – A federal judge on Monday put a temporary halt to a Trumpadministration order denying the possibility of asylum to people who enterthe US illegally.
President Donald Trump issued the proclamation earlier this month as amatter of what he called national security as a caravan of thousands ofCentral American migrants made its way through Mexico toward the US border.
US District Judge Jon Tigar in San Francisco issued a temporary restrainingorder against the Trump proclamation, thus granting a request from humanrights groups who had sued shortly after the order was announced.
Under the proclamation, Trump said only people who enter the US at officialcheckpoints — as opposed to sneaking across the border — can apply forasylum.
Judge Tigar wrote that the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 statesthat any foreigner who arrives in the US, “whether or not at a designatedport of arrival,” may apply for asylum.
“The rule barring asylum for immigrants who enter the country outside aport of entry irreconcilably conflicts with the INA and the expressedintent of Congress,” Tigar wrote.
“Whatever the scope of the President’s authority, he may not rewrite theimmigration laws to impose a condition that Congress has expresslyforbidden,” Tigar added.
The judge’s restraining order remains in effect until the court decides onthe case.
Trump’s administration has argued that he has the executive power to curbimmigration in the name of national security — a power he invoked rightafter taking office last year with a controversial ban on travelers fromseveral mostly Muslim countries.
The final version of the order was upheld by the US Supreme Court on June26 after a protracted legal battle.——————————
*‘Unparalleled abuse’*——————————
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When the new policy was announced by the Department of Homeland Security onNovember 8, a senior administration official said it would address what hecalled the “historically unparalleled abuse of our immigration system”along the border with Mexico.
Administration officials say anyone who manages to get across can requestasylum and subsequently often vanish while their case sits in the courtsystem.
“The vast majority of these applications eventually turn out to benon-meritorious,” a senior administration official said, asking not to beidentified.
Less than 10 percent of cases result in asylum being granted, thegovernment says.
Human rights campaigners and other critics of the Trump crackdown say thatby restricting asylum seekers to border crossing points — which arealready under enormous pressure — the government is effectively shuttingthe door on people who may truly be fleeing for their lives.
“The government cannot abdicate its responsibility towards migrants fleeingharm,” the New York Immigration Coalition advocacy group said.
But the administration official argued that “what we’re attempting to do istrying to funnel credible fear claims, or asylum claims, through the portsof entry where we are better resourced.”
That way, he said, courts will “handle those claims in an expeditious andefficient manner, so that those who do actually require an asylumprotection get those protections.”
In 2018, border patrols registered more than 400,000 illegal bordercrossers, homeland security said. And in the last five years, the number ofthose requesting asylum has increased by 2,000 percent, it said. – APP /AFP
