A federal judge in California on Wednesday prevented the Donald Trump administration from applying new restrictions to the asylum applications of migrants crossing the US-Mexico border, the most recent setback for a president who is fighting a bitter battle in the courts to stop the arrival of illegal immigrants to the country.
Judge Jon Tigar of San Francisco issued his decision hours after a magistrate in Washington decided that the rules would remain in effect. The California ruling suspends the measure across the border as the lawsuits follow their legal course.
The new measure would prevent most migrants from seeking asylum in the United States if they first passed through another country. Most of the migrants who cross the border come from Central America, so almost all of them would not meet the requirements to apply for asylum because they had to go through Mexico first.
It would also affect asylum seekers from Africa, Asia and South America who usually reach the southern border.
The restrictions came into effect last week, although there were conflicting reports about whether federal immigration agencies were exercising them or not.
Senior federal officials say their plan would discourage migrants from leaving their home countries, which they say is necessary to reduce the number of people detained by border agents.
It is not the first time that Tigar, who was appointed to office by former President Barack Obama, prohibits other less restrictive asylum measures from taking effect, and could permanently block this new policy.
The judge said the new measure could expose migrants to violence and abuse, deny them the rights dictated by international laws and return them to the countries they are fleeing from.
He acknowledged that the country’s immigration system is saturated by the increase in arrivals of Central American migrants that has been registered during the last year.
“But looking for shortcuts to avoid the law, or weaken the boundaries between Congress and the executive branch, are not solutions to these problems,” Tigar said.
The Justice and National Security departments did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trump told reporters before attending a fundraising event in West Virginia that the magistrate’s ruling in Washington was a “tremendous decision.”
“We appreciate it. We have enormous respect for our courts. That helps us a lot at the border, ”he added.
The policy has exceptions that would still allow a migrant to apply for asylum in the United States: If someone has been a victim of trafficking, if he first requested and was denied protection in another country, or if the nation he went through is not part of the main international treaties governing the treatment of refugees, although most western countries have already signed them.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people await in Mexico on official and unofficial lists created after federal agents began to reject several asylum seekers on the grounds that there is a lack of space and delays in immigration courts.
Federal courts have prevented other Trump government proposals from coming into force, including a restriction on granting asylum for anyone who illegally crosses the southern border. A court also prevented the government from detaining asylum seekers without giving them the opportunity to release them on bail.
