Another defeat for Trump asylum ban

Pelosi rejects funding wall to protect young immigrants

WASHINGTON, Dec 8, (Agencies): A US appeals court handed President Donald Trump a defeat on Friday when it refused to allow his order barring asylum for immigrants who enter the country illegally to take effect, while a court challenge proceeds.

The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruling was written by Judge Jay Bybee.

The ban is inconsistent with an existing US law and an attempted end-run around Congress, a panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals said in a 2-1 decision.

“Just as we may not, as we are often reminded, ‘legislate from the bench,’ neither may the Executive legislate from the Oval Office,” 9th Circuit Judge Jay Bybee, a nominee of Republican president George W. Bush, wrote for the majority.

A spokesman for the US Department of Justice, Steven Stafford, did not have comment. But he referred to an earlier statement that called the asylum system broken and said the department looked forward to “continuing to defend the Executive Branch’s legitimate and wellreasoned exercise of its authority to address the crisis at our southern border.”

At issue is President Donald Trump’s Nov 9 proclamation that barred anyone who crossed the US-Mexico border between official ports of entry from seeking asylum. Trump issued the proclamation in response to caravans of migrants approaching the border.

A lower court judge

N Carolina declares emergency:

The governor of North Carolina declared a state of emergency on Friday as a major winter storm already drenching the southern plains states was expected to slam the southeast with snow and sleet this weekend.

Winter Storm Diego could bring a foot of snow to mountain areas of the Carolinas, along with sleet and freezing rain that could cancel or delay flights and snarl traffic on icy roads.

“North Carolina is gearing up for a major winter storm and we’re taking all steps necessary to have the resources we need in place to respond,” Governor Roy Cooper said in a written statement announcing the state of emergency declaration.

“Snow may be beautiful but it can also be treacherous and I urge North Carolinians to take this storm seriously and get ready for it now,” Cooper said.

American Airlines issued a severe weather advisory, waiving change fees for travelers booked through Charlotte Douglas International, a major regional hub that faces the possibility of delayed or canceled flights.(RTRS)

Cooper

temporarily

‘Winner-take-all’ gets boost:

A federal judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit challenging the winner-take-all system Massachusetts uses to assign its Electoral College presidential votes, rejecting the argument that it violates the principle of “one person, one vote.”

The case is one of several spearheaded by the onetime lawyer for former vicepresident Al Gore that is targeting the winner-take-all system used in 48 states, which critics ultimately hope to get before the US Supreme Court.

They argue the practice of assigning all of a state’s Electoral College votes to the winner of a state’s popular vote disenfranchises those who voted for the losing candidate and puts too much weight in the votes of those who live in a few key battleground states. (AP) blocked the ban and later refused to immediately reinstate it. The administration appealed to the 9th Circuit for an immediate stay of Judge Jon Tigar’s Nov 19 temporary restraining order.

In a dissenting opinion Friday, 9th Circuit Judge Edward Leavy said the administration “adopted legal methods to cope with the current problems rampant at the southern border.” Nothing in the law the majority cited prevented a rule categorically barring eligibility for asylum on the basis of how a person entered the country, Leavy, a nominee of Republican president Ronald Reagan, said.

Exchange

Meanwhile, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi is rejecting the idea of paying for President Donald Trump’s border wall in exchange for a deal to help hundreds of thousands of young immigrants avoid deportation.

Pelosi said Thursday that wall funding and legal protections for so-called “Dreamers” should not be linked, saying “they’re two different subjects.”

Pelosi, who is seeking to become House Speaker in January, said Congress should pass appropriations bills that key committees have already agreed on, along with a separate measure funding the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the border.

Pelosi said agency funding should address border security and does not necessarily include the wall, a top Trump priority.

Her comments came as the House approved a stopgap bill to keep the government funded through Dec 21.

Thousands of Central American migrants spent weeks traveling north through Mexico in caravans, walking and hitching rides when possible, only for many to give up hope and turn back when they met resistance at the US border.

Others hopped the border fence, often directly into the hands of immigration authorities on the US side, while still others dug in at temporary lodgings in Tijuana for the long process of seeking asylum from a reluctant US government.

As rain poured down on a former music venue in Tijuana that holds a diminished crowd of 2,500 migrants, Jessica, 18, grabbed her feverish 1-yearold daughter and took her inside to a friend while she figured out what to do with her broken tent.

Jessica had traveled from El Salvador, and said she and her husband were waiting in the Barretal camp for the right moment to try to cross the border illegally.

“Getting asylum is really difficult,” she said. “They ask you for a lot of evidence and it’s impossible. It’s not like they say it is.”

Other migrants face the same dilemma. Of 6,000 who arrived in Tijuana in the caravans last month, 1,000 have scrambled over border fences, and most of those were detained, the head of Mexico’s civil protection agency David Leon told local media on Wednesday.