A federal judge in California reimposed a nationwide injunction blocking the Trump administration from enforcing severe new rules for migrants seeking asylum at the southern border, a setback for the president as he seeks to crack down on illegal immigration.
The Monday ruling from U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar blocking the restrictions nationwide for a second time comes after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last month narrowed the scope of the injunction to apply only within the circuit, which includes the border states of California and Arizona. As a result of the 9th Circuit’s order, the asylum policy could take effect in Texas and New Mexico.
But the 9th Circuit said the federal district court would retain jurisdiction to “further develop the record in support of a preliminary injunction extending beyond the Ninth Circuit.”
Tigar, appointed by President Barack Obama, noted in his ruling that the organizations challenging the new rule serve clients “within and outside of the 9th Circuit” and have “presented sufficient evidence that they will suffer organizational and diversion of resource harms unless the rule is enjoined outside of, as well as within, the 9th Circuit.”
The measure from the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice, unveiled July 15, deems migrants arriving at the southern border ineligible for asylum unless they have sought refugee status in one of the countries they traveled through first.
After the rule took effect, a coalition of immigrant rights groups represented by the American Civil Liberties Union challenged it.
ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt said that in reinstating the nationwide injunction, “the court recognized there is grave danger facing asylum-seekers along the entire stretch of the southern border.”
But White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham decried the ruling from Tigar, calling it “a gift to human smugglers and traffickers and undermines the rule of law.”
“Immigration and border security policy cannot be run by any single district court judge who decides to issue a nationwide injunction,” she said.
The Trump administration has argued the new rules are necessary to address the humanitarian and national security crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border, and the Justice Department last month asked the Supreme Court to allow the administration to fully enforce the rules while litigation continues.
Solicitor General Noel Francisco said the measure “alleviates a crushing burden on the U.S. asylum system by prioritizing asylum seekers who most need asylum in the United States” and said Tigar’s nationwide injunction “frustrates the government’s strong interest in a well-functioning asylum system.”
