Trump defends asylum restrictions on border in wake of court order

President Donald Trump on Tuesday defended the restrictions he imposed earlier this month on applying for asylum on the border with Mexico after a federal judge temporarily blocked those limitations.

On Nov. 9, Trump signed an executive order that denied immigrants who enter the US irregularly across the Mexico border the option of applying for asylum.

On the same day that Trump signed the order, which was to be valid for 90 days, different human rights defense groups sued the government in a San Francisco federal court requesting that a judge suspend the measure.

Trump and his government had used an executive order 2017 to establish an immigration veto over allowing people from Muslim-majority countries to enter the US, a step that ultimately was backed by the Supreme Court.

The president on Tuesday criticized the judge’s decision and predicted that the administration would win the case in a higher court.

“It’s a disgrace. We will win that case in the Supreme Court,” Trump said, claiming judicial bias in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals matter.

In recent hours, the judge overseeing the case, Jon Tigar, issued an order blocking the measure until at least Dec. 19, when he will meet with the parties to decide whether or not to extend the suspension or if the parties will have to provide more arguments defending their stances.

“The rule barring asylum for immigrants who enter the country outside a port of entry irreconcilably conflicts with the INA and the expressed intent of Congress,” Tigar wrote in his ruling.

“Whatever the scope of the president’s authority, he may not rewrite the immigration laws to impose a condition that Congress has expressly forbidden,” he said.

Prevailing federal law specifies that anyone who sets foot on US territory has the right to request asylum and that their case will be examined, something that the government now seeks to limit only along the Mexico border for those immigrants who come to the authorized border crossing points.

It is expected that the administration will appeal the ruling.

The judge’s decision comes while thousands of mainly Honduran migrants have arrived in recent days in Tijuana, Mexico, across the border from San Diego, California, after setting out from their homeland on Oct. 13 and heading northward with the aim of requesting asylum in the US.