An appeals court has ruled the U.S. government practice of metering asylum seekers at the border is illegal.
The San Diego-based border aid group Al Otro Lado and other groups first filed suit almost a decade ago. It was on behalf of a group of asylum seekers subject to a practice that had U.S. border officers turning migrants away after a daily cap on asylum applications was met.
The rights groups argued the policy violates asylum seekers’ due process and a portion of U.S. immigration law that guarantees the right to seek asylum on U.S. soil.
In a 2-1 ruling this week, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said border officers are legally required to process asylum seekers when they arrive at a port of entry, and said the metering practice went against that.
-
Federal data shows nearly 3.8 million deportation cases are pending in U.S. immigration court. That’s the most recent figure from July of this year — and it was nearing a historic high of pending cases at the end of the last fiscal year. -
The policy allowed U.S. immigration officers to turn asylum seekers away at border ports of entry, despite a U.S. law that guarantees the right to ask for that protection anywhere on U.S. soil. -
Since President Donald Trump took office, the border between the United States and Mexico has been all but abandoned. Arizona Republic reporter Daniel Gonzalez went farther south to find out why migrants are turning back. -
ICE held about 60,000 people as of Sept. 21, the most recent data available. In the prior month, 1,151 detainees were held in isolation for at least one day — the most ever. The count has topped 1,000 every month since April. -
An Arizona tribal member got mixed up in a close-call mistake made by local authorities at an Iowa jail after nearly being turned over to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
