Asylum Seekers Pursue National Order Barring New Constraints

(Bloomberg) -- Lawyers representing migrants asked a federal judge in California to reinstate a nationwide order that blocked the Trump administration from preventing some Central Americans from applying for asylum in the U.S.

The administration last month imposed new restrictions on the asylum seekers, barring them from requesting protection if they traveled through another country on their way to the U.S. unless they already tried and failed to receive asylum there. The judge then issued the order blocking the new rules across the country.

A three-judge appeals-court panel in San Francisco upheld that order for California and Arizona, the border states in its jurisdiction, but said it couldn’t be applied nationally, including in the border states of New Mexico and Texas.

On Monday, lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Constitutional Rights and the Southern Poverty Law Center asked the lower-court judge to consider evidence that the nationwide injunction should be reinstated, arguing asylum seekers face “grave harm” because they frequently don’t enter the country and complete their proceedings in one state.

“An asylum seeker may enter the U.S. through Texas, have a credible-fear interview in New Jersey and ultimately apply for asylum in California,” the groups said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Patricia Hurtado in Federal Court in Manhattan at pathurtado@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Peter Jeffrey, Joe Schneider

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.