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.
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Researchers used bystander video and news reports to put together a database of incidents where pepper spray, rubber bullets and other measures were used by law enforcement — resulting in injuries ranging from cuts and burns, to traumatic brain injuries. -
A congressionally approved federal program has for years provided funding for a handful of legal groups representing immigrant kids in Arizona and elsewhere. The Trump administration moved to end the program last spring. -
Arizona Democrats are demanding answers from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security after several cases of measles were confirmed among people in ICE custody in the state. -
The Kino Border Initiative and Loyola University Chicago School of Law filed a report to the United Nations, arguing conditions at U.S. immigration detention centers violate international human rights standards — including those prohibiting torture. -
Top Republican Arizona state lawmakers are lining up with the Department of Homeland Security — and against the Tohono O'odham Nation — over whether the federal agency can build 62 miles of border wall through that reservation.
