Judge overturns Trump border rule requiring immigrants to first claim asylum in another country
July 1, 2020, 12:13 AM EDT
By Dennis Romero
A federal court Tuesday night upheld a challenge to the Trump administration's asylum restrictions, specifically a 2019 rule that requires seekers to ask for asylum closer to home.
U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly of Washington, D.C., ruled in favor of immigrant nonprofits and asylum-seekers who argued that the rule known as the "third-country asylum rule," which was jointly published by the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security, violated the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Kelly, who was appointed to the federal bench by President Donald Trump in 2017,
agreed that in adopting the policy, the administration did not abide by the federal Administrative Procedure Act, or APA, which requires that Americans be given enough time and opportunity to weigh in on such rule changes.
The Immigration and Nationality Act, the judge argued, generally allows anyone who has made it to U.S. soil to apply for asylum, with some exceptions, including for those with criminal records.
"There are many circumstances in which courts appropriately defer to the national security judgments of the Executive," Kelly wrote. "But determining the scope of an APA exception is not one of them."
The judge noted that the Supreme Court had blocked an earlier injunction against the rule until the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed overturning the rule.
Tuesday night's move, a major blow to the administration's toughest asylum policy, comes on the heels of the Supreme Court's decision June 18 to uphold the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which has allowed nearly 800,000 young people, known as Dreamers, to avoid deportation.
The third-country rule appeared to be aimed at Central American migrants who claimed they were fleeing gang violence. Trump has vowed to halt the migrants' treks, including so-called caravans, through Mexico.
more:
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/judge-overturns-trump-border-rule-requiring-immigrants-first-claim-asylum-n1232629?cid=eml_nbn_20200701
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