US can reject asylum bids along parts of border, court decides

HOUSTON — A federal appeals court’s ruling Friday will allow the Trump administration to begin rejecting asylum at some parts of the U.s.-mexico border for migrants who arrive after passing through a third country.

The ruling from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allows President Donald Trump to enforce the policy in New Mexico and Texas, rejecting asylum seekers who cross from Mexico into either state. Under Friday’s ruling, U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar’s July 24 order stopping the policy would only apply in California and Arizona.

The two busiest areas for unauthorized border crossings are in South Texas’ Rio Grande Valley and the region around El Paso, Texas, which includes New Mexico. Nearly 50,000 people in July crossed the U.S. border without permission in those two regions, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.

The policy would deny asylum to anyone who passes through another country on the way to the U.S. without seeking protection there. Most crossing the southern border are Central Americans fleeing violence and poverty, who now would largely be ineligible.

If the policy is implemented, ineligible migrants who cross in New Mexico and Texas could be detained and more quickly deported.

People can request asylum when they arrive in the U.S. regardless of how they enter. But the law makes an exception for those who have come through a country considered to be “safe” pursuant to an agreement between the U.S. and that country.

Canada and the U.S. have a “safe third country” agreement. But the U.S. doesn’t have one with Mexico or countries in Central America. The Trump administration has tried to sign one with Guatemala, but the country’s incoming president said this week that Guatemala would not be able to uphold a tentative deal reached by his predecessor.

About 30,000 people already have been returned to Mexico to await asylum hearings under the government’s Migrant Protection Protocols program. Tens of thousands of others are waiting in shelters and camps to present themselves to U.S. border agents at official ports of entry.

Mexico’s asylum system is itself overwhelmed, and there are widespread reports of migrants being attacked and extorted. Tigar had ruled the policy could expose migrants to violence and abuse, deny their rights under international law and return them to countries they were fleeing.

The appeals court ruled that Tigar, in his order, hadn’t presented enough evidence to conclude that a nationwide order was necessary. The court instructed Tigar to “further develop the record in support of a preliminary injunction” extending nationwide.