Civil Rights Groups Sue Trump Over Asylum Restrictions

Bloomberg reports:

The American Civil Liberties Union is challenging the Trump Administration’s latest attempt to seal the U.S. southern border by stopping undocumented migrants from seeking asylum after they’ve already entered the country.

The advocacy group is seeking a court order temporarily preventing the government from restricting asylum applications to those made at official ports of entry. The restrictions will take effect Saturday after President Donald Trump signed a proclamation formally changing asylum rules.

The San Jose Mercury News reports:



Trump signed a proclamation Friday suspending entry into the U.S. from the border, saying, “our system is being overwhelmed by migration through our southern border.

Crossing the border to avoid detection and then, if apprehended, claiming a fear of persecution is in too many instances an avenue to near-automatic release into the interior of the United States.”

The ACLU, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and Center for Constitutional Rights filed the lawsuit on behalf of the East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, Al Otro Lado, Innovation Law Lab, and the Central American Resource Center in Los Angeles.