Civil Rights Groups Sue To Block Trump’s Asylum Crackdown
As was widely expected, a coterie of civil rights groups are suing to block President Trump’s order making it illegal for migrants to declare asylum anywhere but designated border crossing points. The lawsuit, brought by the ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center and Center for Constitutional Rights, was filed in the same US district court in Northern California that helped block the first two iterations of President Trump’s temporary ban on immigrants from a handful of Muslim majority nations.
Here’s more from the Hill.
In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Friday, the American Civil Liberties Union, Southern Poverty Law Center and Center for Constitutional Rights allege that the Trump administration is violating immigration law as well as the federal statute that governs the way administrative agencies can issue rules.
“President Trump’s new asylum ban is illegal,” Omar Jadwat, director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said in a statement.
“Neither the president nor his cabinet secretaries can override the clear commands of U.S. law, but that’s exactly what they’re trying to do. This action undermines the rule of law and is a great moral failure because it tries to take away protections from individuals facing persecution — it’s the opposite of what America should stand for.”
President Donald Trump issued an order on Friday to halt asylum claims made by people who illegally cross the US border with Mexico, a move that he had telegraphed well in advance. The decision, which was made in response to the caravans advancing toward the US’s southern border from central America, was previewed on Thursday night.
The new policy is set to take effect at 12:01 am on Saturday and will affect anybody who crossed the border outside of an official point of entry. The policy change is intended to discourage illegal immigration, as many migrants cross the southern border from war-torn Central American countries with the intention of declaring asylum, only to illegally remain in the country while they await their hearings.
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