Overturning a California district court last weekend, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to move forward with new asylum rules that require would-be refugees to seek safe haven in the first “safe country” they come to. In most cases, that country will be Mexico, seeing as how the majority of refugees are trying to pour into the U.S. from Central American nations like Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. While the Supreme Court ruling is not the final say in the matter – lawsuits are winding their way through the system even now – it does allow the government to enact the rule in the meantime.
Fighting back against that ruling are 126 Central American migrants, who have filed suit against the Trump administration in Washington, D.C.’s U.S. District Court. Departing from similar suits, the migrants claim that the Trump administration implemented the ban through an arbitrary process that did not correctly respect procedural rules on government regulations.
Reuters reports:
With the administration rolling out a series of anti-immigration regulations in rapid succession, asylum-seekers are not being told which of the shifting standards will apply to their cases, said Hassan Ahmad, the lead attorney on the lawsuit.
“What we’re challenging is the haphazard lack of legal procedure. There’s no rhyme or reason to it,” Ahmad said.
The plaintiffs are 126 women and children from 59 families, mostly from the impoverished and violent Central American countries of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, who were rejected in the early stages of the asylum process while staying at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas.
It is to make a mockery of presidential power to suggest that Trump cannot enact this rule. It is an entirely reasonable correction to the status quo, and it is in perfect harmony with refugee laws followed all over the world. Furthermore, it is an essential tool to tamp down on an out-of-control migrant crisis that is threatening to turn the southern border into a permanent encampment for would-be refugees. Finally, it is a strong and viable answer to the central problem, which is that the vast majority of these asylum-seekers do not actually have a legitimate claim for safe harbor.
Democrats have refused to address this crisis, except to sit on the sidelines and throw peanuts at the president. That’s not government, that’s punditry. In the absence of their leadership, Trump is doing what he must to protect our borders, our economy, and our way of life. Shame on anyone who takes sides against him.
