NEW YORK: In a blow to US President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda, a federal judge has put a temporary halt to his administration’s order denying the possibility of asylum to people who enter the US illegally, according to American media reports.
President Trump issued the proclamation earlier this month as a matter of what he called national security as thousands of Central American migrants made its way through Mexico toward the US border.
US District Judge Jon Tigar in San Francisco issued on Monday night a temporary restraining order against the Trump proclamation, thus granting a request from human rights groups who had sued shortly after the order was announced.
Under the proclamation, Trump said only people who enter the US at official checkpoints – as opposed to sneaking across the border – can apply for asylum.
Judge Tigar said Trump’s anti-immigration policy likely violated federal law on asylum eligibility.  The judge issued the temporary nationwide restraining order barring enforcement of the policy after hearing arguments in the case, according to the reports.
The Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security had earlier published a joint rule prohibiting certain people caught crossing the US southern border from Mexico between ports of entry from claiming asylum.
“Our asylum system is overwhelmed with too many meritless asylum claims from aliens who place a tremendous burden on our resources,” acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said in a joint statement at the time.
The rule was opposed by immigration activists and civil rights groups including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Center for Constitutional Rights.
“We don’t condone people entering between ports of entry, but Congress has made the decision that if they do, they still need to be allowed to apply for asylum,”