ACLU, advocacy groups sue to block asylum restrictions

WASHINGTON — Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union and other immigrant advocacy groups filed suit Friday in the Northern District of California to block the Trump administration’s plan to deny asylum protections to migrants who cross the Mexico border illegally.

Thesuit accuses the administration of attempting to violate the Immigration and Nationality Act and the Administrative Procedure Act, alleging that administration officials have improperly rushed to implement the new restrictions while also asserting executive powers that lie beyond the scope of what the Supreme Court upheld in its “travel ban” decision this year.

The suit came hours after President Donald Trump issued a decree Friday morning that set in motion his administration’s effort to close off asylum benefits for those who enter the United States illegally. The measures are to take effect Saturday.

“Theasy lum ban is not justified by events on the ground, puts lives in danger and is patently unlawful,” said Lee Gelernt, an ACLU attorney. “The administration is flagrantly ignoring a federal statute and bypassing the most basic procedural requirements governing the issuance of new laws.”

Administration officials anticipated the lawsuits, and the possibility that lower courts will side with the plaintiffs. The administration suffered repeated defeats in district courts in California, but administration officials view the rulings as necessary hurdles to reach the Supreme Court, which by a 5-to-4 vote in June upheld a revised version of the travel ban that sought to block foreigners from several Muslim-majority nations fromentering the U.S.

Under the new measures, announced by administration officials Thursday, Mr. Trump seeks to exercise the same emergency authority invoked during his “travel ban” of early 2017 to bar anyone crossing the Mexico border illegally from qualifying for asylum.

Protections for asylum seekers will remain available to those who apply at official border crossings, or U.S. ports of entry, and the restrictions would not apply to underage asylum seekers who arrive without a parent or guardian.

In his proclamation, Mr. Trump said the measures were necessary to prepare for the arrival of thousands of Central Americans traveling in groups through Mexico toward the U.S. border with what he said was no apparent “lawful basis for admission into our country.”