Immigrant rights groups will take their legal challenge of President Donald Trump’s so-called asylum ban to court Monday, and they want a federal judge to block the government from tagging people as ineligible for asylum because they crossed the southern border illegally.
Both sides root at least part of their argument in the Immigration and Nationality Act.
The Justice Department has said the law gives Trump broad power to keep people out of the country, if he decides doing so is in the national interest. Homeland Security officials have said the upholding of the so-called Muslim ban by the Supreme Court solidified the president’s authority to block people from the country based on national security.
Immigrant rights groups have also pointed to the Immigration and Nationality Act in arguing that it’s illegal to make people seek asylum at a port of entry. The group’s lawyers have said Congress was clear that anyone can apply for asylum regardless of where they enter the country.
