Judge bars Trump from refusing migrants

WASHINGTON: A federal judge 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 on Monday 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.

“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.

— AP Long walk: Central American migrants, as part of the Central American caravan trying to reach the United States, waiting to receive donated meals in downtown Mexicali, Mexico.