On Monday, in a move that’s sure to make Trump and all of his MAGA-hat-wearing followers even crazier, a federal judge in San Francisco blocked “an experimental Trump administration policy that requires asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their cases make their way through the U.S. immigration court system.”
According to theĀ Washington Post:
‘U.S. District Judge Richard ĀSeeborg in San FranciscoĀ enjoined the Migrant Protection Protocols(MPP) policy days after outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen pledged to expand the program. The policy began in January at the San Ysidro port of entry in California but has been extended to the Calexico, Calif., entry and to the entry in El Paso, and Seeborg wrote that the approach would have been further extended if the court had not stepped in.
‘Several hundred migrants have been returned to Mexico under the program after seeking asylum at the border.’
The report continues:
‘The ruling ā a preliminary injunction at least temporarily stopping the program ā paralyzes one of the Trump administrationās last remaining tools to stem the flow of Central American families trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border, an influx that has hit decade-long highs and has infuriated the president. Trump took out some of that frustration on the Department of Homeland Security in recent days: NielsenĀ resigned days afterĀ the White HouseĀ rescinded the nominationĀ of one of her top deputies, Ronald Vitiello, to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement.’
Seeborg said in his 27-page ruling that “the legal question before him was notĀ whether the MPP is a wise, intelligent, or humane policy, or whether it is the best approach for addressing the circumstances the executive branch contends constitute a crisis,” but that the program may violateĀ Ā the Immigration and Nationality Act, the Administrative Procedures Act. These laws are in place to ensure that immigrants, as the judge puts it, “are not returned to unduly dangerous circumstances.”
The Justice Department has not yet commented on this ruling, or whether or not they will appeal it.
Featured image via screenshot.