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US-IMMIGRATION-JUSTICE-POLITICS-ASYLUM
Top US court allows Trump asylum restrictions to take effect
WASHINGTON, Sept 12, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The US Supreme Court on Wednesday
allowed asylum restrictions by President Donald Trump’s administration to
take effect, preventing most Central American migrants from applying at the
US border.
The top court stayed a decision by a lower court two days earlier that had
blocked the restrictions, which require migrants seeking asylum in the United
States to make their request in a country along their route.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, dissenting from the Supreme Court’s decision,
wrote that: “Once again the Executive Branch has issued a rule that seeks to
upend longstanding practices regarding refugees who seek shelter from
persecution.”
Trump took to Twitter to hail the move, saying: “BIG United States Supreme
Court WIN for the Border on Asylum!”
The policy is among a host of measures Trump has taken in a bid to stem the
flow of Central American migrants trying to cross into the US from Mexico and
request asylum.
The Pentagon said Tuesday that it will keep up to 5,500 troops deployed at
the southern US border for the coming year to help combat illegal
immigration.
It has also announced that it would divert $3.6 billion in funds for
construction of an anti-migrant wall on the frontier, which Trump promised
that Mexico would pay for.
The diversion of the Pentagon funds to border wall construction was
justified under a controversial emergency declaration made by Trump after
Congress repeatedly denied the president money for the project.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1141 hrs