A lawsuit filed by a coalition of immigrant rights groups and legal service providers alleges the Trump administration’s asylum restrictions are illegal.
A Jan. 20 proclamation from the Trump administration closed access to asylum at the border on the grounds that the U.S. is being invaded.
The ACLU and other rights groups filed suit against it on behalf of legal service providers at the border — including the Phoenix-based Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project. Lee Gelernt, deputy director of ACLU’s Immigrant Rights Project, says the new order goes against laws enacted by Congress four decades ago that require people fleeing persecution to at least be screened for asylum eligibility.
“I think we're looking at not just how much harm is going to occur for all of these families who are seeking asylum, but it's also putting into play an enormous separation of powers of whether the president has the ability to simply ignore what Congress has done,” he said. “The president is saying ‘I can ignore those laws whenever I declare there’s been an invasion.’ Obviously migrants do not constitute an invasion within the meaning of federal law or the constitution,” Gelernt said.
Gelernt and other attorneys argue the proclamation goes against a statute within federal immigration law that guarantees the right to seek asylum in the U.S., particularly because, unlike other asylum restrictions, it does not provide any pathway into the U.S. for screening.
A separate suit filed by the ACLU and other groups against a Biden-era asylum restriction is still in court.
-
The Arizona House of Representatives is close to passing a bill that would require hospitals to ask patients their citizenship status.
-
It's been two months since President Donald Trump closed the door on asylum seekers. But a sliver of hope remains for those who have few options other than to wait in Mexico. -
Under the new rule, posted to the Federal Register Tuesday, nationals from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela who were given temporary protection and work permits under a Biden-era parole program will have that status revoked. More than 500,000 recipients have been given 30 days to leave the country themselves or face deportation. -
A memo from President Donald Trump directs the Justice Department to pursue sanctions or other disciplinary actions against attorneys and firms with immigration cases that the government deems unethical. -
It’s a roughly $200 million federal contract split by legal aid groups in Arizona and other states that allows attorneys to speak to and represent children after they’ve been released into shelter facilities run by the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
