Appeals Court Narrows Injunction Barring Trump Asylum Restrictions

Photo: loren elliott/Reuters

Ninth Circuit says restrictions can’t take effect in California, Arizona, but won’t block in other states

A federal appeals court blocked the Trump administration from imposing tough asylum restrictions on Central Americans who arrive at the border in California and Arizona, but it gave the White House the ability to impose them in other border states.

In a mixed ruling, the San Francisco-based Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the administration hadn’t made a strong showing that its policy—which effectively bars asylum claims from Central American migrants who pass through any other country on the way to the U.S.—was lawful. It said the restrictions couldn’t be imposed within the West Coast circuit, which includes the states of California and Arizona.

But the court also ruled that a trial judge had been incorrect to block the Trump rules nationwide, and the appeals court refused to do so.

Consequently, the ruling means that, for now, the Trump administration can impose the asylum restrictions in New Mexico and Texas, which are in different judicial circuits. The outcome could create additional confusion at the border in the near term, where Central American families are already navigating a tangle of contradictory policies.

Read the rest from the WSJ HERE.

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