Regardless of federal court challenges, the Supreme Court approved President Donald Trump’s petition to allow his administration to enforce its new asylum rule, which requires immigrants to seek asylum first in the country which they are traveling.
The agreement was not total. Judges Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, two of the court’s four liberal justices, dissented
From any viewpoint, the U.S. Supreme Court order represents a victory for Trump, who has promised to take measures to check the tide of immigrants on the Southern border, most of them coming from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.
With the strategy designed by the Trump administration, which includes other devices, rules and international agreements, it is expected that the number of Central American immigrants who can apply for asylum in the United States will be severely reduced.
They would make asylum seekers who pass through another country before arriving in the United States ineligible, unless they first apply in the country they were passing through.
One of the dissenting judges, Sonia Sotomayor, told reporters that “once again, the Executive Branch has issued a rule that seeks to upend long-standing practices regarding refugees who seek shelter from persecution.”
Sotomayor added that she believed the government did not take the necessary steps when trying to implement the rule, saying it did not allow public participation. She also criticized the administration for asking the Supreme Court to intervene in lower court decisions.
“This is an extraordinary request,” she wrote. “Unfortunately, the Court acquiesces. Because I do not believe the Government has met its weighty burden for such relief, I would deny the stay”.
Trump, meanwhile, immediately celebrated the court’s decision on Twitter, calling it “WIN for the Border on Asylum.”
Some really big Court wins on the Border lately!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 12, 2019
White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley praised the decision to enable the administration to “implement important, needed fixes to the broken asylum system.”
“This greatly helps build on the progress we’ve made addressing the crisis at our southern border and will ultimately make American communities safer,” he added.
The rule in question was unveiled by the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security in mid-July. It will make those who apply for asylum on the Mexican Southern border and who pass through another country before arriving in the U.S. ineligible for asylum unless they first apply in the country they were passing through first.
Translated by: José Espinoza
Noticias Newswire
