Trump administration’s asylum ban blocked by Obama-appointed judge
Judge bars US from enforcing Trump administration’s asylum ban
A federal judge in San Francisco on Monday barred the Trump administration from refusing asylum to immigrants who cross the southern border illegally, likely prompting a legal challenge from the White House.
Trump issued a proclamation on Nov. 9 that said anyone who crossed the southern border would be ineligible for asylum.
U.S. District Judge Jon S. Tigar, who was nominated by President Obama in 2012 to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, issued a temporary restraining order after hearing arguments in San Francisco.
The request was made by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights, which quickly sued after President Trump issued the ban this month in response to the caravans of migrants that have started to arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Officials anticipate the new arrivals could swell the migrant caravan in excess of 10,000 and will need to be housed for an extended period of time – which the Mexican government says it lacks the resources for.
The majority of migrants, who have been on foot for more than a month, are sleeping on a dirt baseball field at an outdoor sports complex in Tijuana by the newly-fortified barbed wire fence that separates Mexico from the United States.
Despite the growing numbers, the Pentagon will reportedly start withdrawing a portion of the 5,800 troops deployed at the border this week, with the rest of the unit packing up before Christmas.
“Our end date right now is December 15, and I’ve got no indications from anybody that we’ll go beyond that,” Army Lt. General Jeffery Buchanan, who is overseeing the deployment, told Politico.
Fox News’ Gregg Re, Greg Norman and the Associated Press contributed to this report.