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US-MIGRANTS-TRUMP-COURT WRAP
Judge bars Trump from denying asylum to people entering US illegally
WASHINGTON, Nov 20, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A federal judge on Monday put a
temporary halt to a Trump administration order denying the possibility of
asylum to people who enter the US illegally.
President Donald Trump issued the proclamation earlier this month as a
matter of what he called national security as a caravan of thousands of
Central American migrants made its way through Mexico toward the US border.
US District Judge Jon Tigar in San Francisco issued a temporary
restraining order against the Trump proclamation, thus granting a request
from human rights groups who had sued shortly after the order was announced.
Under the proclamation, Trump said only people who enter the US at
official checkpoints — as opposed to sneaking across the border — can apply
for asylum.
Judge Tigar wrote that the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 states
that any foreigner who arrives in the US, “whether or not at a designated
port of arrival,” may apply for asylum.
“The rule barring asylum for immigrants who enter the country outside a
port of entry irreconcilably conflicts with the INA and the expressed intent
of Congress,” Tigar wrote.
“Whatever the scope of the President’s authority, he may not rewrite the
immigration laws to impose a condition that Congress has expressly
forbidden,” Tigar added.
The judge’s restraining order remains in effect until the court decides on
the case.
Trump’s administration has argued that he has the executive power to curb
immigration in the name of national security — a power he invoked right
after taking office last year with a controversial ban on travelers from
several mostly Muslim countries.
The final version of the order was upheld by the US Supreme Court on June
26 after a protracted legal battle.
– ‘Unparalleled abuse’ – When the new policy was announced by the
Department of Homeland Security on November 8, a senior administration
official said it would address what he called the “historically unparalleled
abuse of our immigration system” along the border with Mexico.
Administration officials say anyone who manages to get across can request
asylum and subsequently often vanish while their case sits in the court
system.
“The vast majority of these applications eventually turn out to be non-
meritorious,” a senior administration official said, asking not to be
identified.
Less than 10 percent of cases result in asylum being granted, the
government says.
Human rights campaigners and other critics of the Trump crackdown say that
by restricting asylum seekers to border crossing points — which are already
under enormous pressure — the government is effectively shutting the door on
people who may truly be fleeing for their lives.
“The government cannot abdicate its responsibility towards migrants
fleeing harm,” the New York Immigration Coalition advocacy group said.
But the administration official argued that “what we’re attempting to do
is trying to funnel credible fear claims, or asylum claims, through the ports
of entry where we are better resourced.”
That way, he said, courts will “handle those claims in an expeditious and
efficient manner, so that those who do actually require an asylum protection
get those protections.”
In 2018, border patrols registered more than 400,000 illegal border
crossers, homeland security said. And in the last five years, the number of
those requesting asylum has increased by 2,000 percent, it said.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1458 hrs