A federal judge in Rhode Island has struck down a Trump administration executive order that suspended all asylum decisions and stopped visa issuance to people from Afghanistan, alongside an additional 38 other countries. The order came shortly after an Afghan national shot two National Guard members just blocks from the White House, killing one.
NYT: Judge Says Trump Officials Must Restart Asylum and Immigration Processing
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The judge invalidated policies the Trump administration enacted last year that halted asylum grants, as well as the processing of immigration benefits for people from 39 countries.…
Judge John J. McConnell Jr., an Obama appointee, wrote in a scathing decision that the Trump administration had left legal immigrants living in the United States in “indeterminate legal limbo” because of “anti-immigrant sentiments that it is forbidden from letting influence its decision-making.”
The Trump administration, he wrote, “placed the lives of countless individuals on hold — solely by virtue of their countries of birth.”
“Over six months later, many of those individuals remain without work, without legal status, and without any meaningful ability to plan for their futures,” Judge McConnell said in his decision.
“The court is reminded of a line often repeated in discussions around immigration policy: If people wish to immigrate to the United States, they ought to ‘follow the law’ and ‘do things the right way.’ This case serves as a perfect example of immigrants doing just that.”
In other words, the affected parties had followed the legal process of seeking asylum in the United States, and the president alone does not have the power to rewrite those rules; that authority rests with Congress, which is primarily responsible for the flawed system as it exists today.
“This ruling reaffirms a basic principle: The federal government cannot shut down lawful immigration pathways or discriminate against people based on where they come from,” Skye Perryman, the president of Democracy Forward, a legal nonprofit that represented those opposed to the rule, said. “These unlawful policies caused enormous harm to families, workers, asylum seekers and communities across the country.”
Neither President Trump nor the Department of Homeland Security has responded to the ruling.