A federal judge ruled Monday that the Trump administration must accept asylum claims from migrants no matter how they entered the country, in a rebuke to a proclamation the president made earlier this month.
Judge Jon S. Tigar of the United States District Court in San Francisco, a Barack Obama appointee, issued a temporary restraining order on the matter, the New York Times reports.
It blocks the proclamation President Donald Trump issued on Nov. 9, shortly before he left for Paris, suspending asylum rights for illegal immigrants if they didn't make the request at a lawful port of entry. The proclamation was a response to the migrant caravan of Central Americans heading toward the border, which became a top issue in the weeks leading up to the midterms elections.
"The continuing and threatened mass migration of aliens with no basis for admission into the United States through our southern border has precipitated a crisis and undermines the integrity of our borders," Trump wrote in the proclamation.
The Times reports:
As a caravan of several thousand people journeyed toward the Southwest border, President Trump signed a proclamation on Nov. 9 that banned migrants from applying for asylum if they failed to make the request at a legal checkpoint. Only those who entered the country through a port of entry would be eligible, he said, invoking national security powers to protect the integrity of the United States borders.
Within days, the administration submitted a rule to the federal register, letting it go into effect immediately and without the customary period for public comment.
But the rule overhauled longstanding asylum laws that ensure people fleeing persecution can seek safety in the United States, regardless of how they entered the country. Advocacy groups, including the Southern Poverty Law Center and the American Civil Liberties Union, swiftly sued the administration for effectively introducing what they deemed an asylum ban.
ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt argued the case and lauded the decision.
"We don’t condone people entering between ports of entry, but Congress has made the decision that if they do, they still need to be allowed to apply for asylum," he said, according to the Huffington Post.
The ruling is a blow to Trump's tough stance on illegal immigration, which was a cornerstone of his campaign and been one of the defining aspects of his presidency.
Immigration laws currently state any foreigner who reaches U.S. soil may apply for asylum, and they are eligible to speak to a credible fear officer, who generally approve them for release and a court date. The Times reports the backlog of cases before U.S. immigration courts exceeds one million, leading to the derisive "catch and release" term often used by the White House.
Trump often rips the country's immigration laws as the worst in the world, and he has repeatedly said he wants people to come into the country, but they must do so legally.