San Francisco Judge Blocks Trump’s Latest Asylum Restrictions
by Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge.com
Thu, 07/25/2019
Once again, the federal district courts of Northern California are stymieing President Trump’s immigration agenda. This time, a San Francisco judge who was nominated to the bench by Obama has blocked President Trump from enforcing a new rule that would dramatically limit the number of migrants allowed to apply for asylum at the southern border.
Judge Jon Tigar issued a preliminary injunction blocking the rule, which would require asylum seekers to first pursue an asylum claim in a third country (and presumably be denied) before they can pursue asylum in the US. The rule would effectively force migrants from Central America to seek protection in Mexico before they can apply for asylum in the US. Earlier in the day, Washington DC district judge Timothy Kelly issued a different ruling where he declined to block the rule in a separate lawsuit brought by pro-immigration groups. But Tigar’s decision supersedes Kelly’s, Reuters reports.
Tigar’s ruling doesn’t kill the Trump Administration’s rule outright – it’s simply suspended pending future rulings by succeeding federal judges. Much of the administration’s immigration agenda is still tied up in the courts.
While Trump and his administration were quick to celebrate Kelly’s decision, immigration groups and other groups like the SPLC that are challenging the ban praised Tigar’s ruling.
“Today’s ruling is an important victory for incredibly vulnerable individuals and families,” said Melissa Crow, an attorney from the Southern Poverty Law Center – one of the groups challenging the ban – in a statement.
The Trump Administration believes most of the asylum claims being made at the southern border are illegitimate, and that families use asylum as a way to gain entry to the country – then they disappear after they’re released to await their first immigration hearing. The vast majority – some 90% – never show up.
The Rest…HERE
