Judge Blocks Trump’s Ban on Asylum at the Southern Border

Once again, the administration’s immigration crackdown is on hold.

Migrants wait in line to get a meal on August 30 in an encampment near the Gateway International Bridge in Matamoros, Mexico. Veronica G. Cardenas/AP

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Blocked, partially unblocked, and now blocked again: The Trump administration’s effort to end asylum at the southern border has once again been struck down by a federal judge, the latest twist in an ongoing legal battle.

On Monday, California district court judge Jon Tigar reinstated a nationwide order blocking President Donald Trump’s effective ban on asylum at the border. The ban, enacted by the administration in July, made people who travel through a third country on their way to the United States ineligible for asylum, forcing them to apply instead in Mexico or elsewhere on their route. The US government makes it impossible for many asylum seekers to get visas to fly directly to the United States, and the ban would virtually end asylum for people whose only option is to travel overland through Mexico and other Latin American countries.

One week after the ban went into effect, Tigar blocked it with a nationwide injunction after finding that the Trump administration was effectively “shortcutting the law,” since federal law gives people the right to seek asylum in the United States regardless of whether they’ve set foot in another country. In August, the progressive Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Tigar’s injunction, but only in the states represented by the Ninth Circuit. As a result, border crossers were eligible for asylum in California and Arizona, but ineligible in Texas and New Mexico.

The Ninth Circuit signaled in its August decision that Tigar could reinstate a nationwide ban if there was additional evidence for why it was necessary. The American Civil Liberties Union made the case for a new nationwide ban before Tigar in court on Thursday. 

The Trump administration issued a similar asylum ban in November 2018. Tigar quickly blocked it, deciding that the policy “irreconcilably conflicts” with immigration law. Tigar’s 2018 decision was ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court in a 5-4 vote. Trump responded with a more sweeping asylum ban in July, setting off another court battle. 

The government asked the Supreme Court last month to rule quickly on whether the new asylum ban can go into effect across the country. The request is still pending. 

Read Tigar’s decision below:

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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