The Supreme Court on Wednesday said the Trump administration can enforce new restrictions against asylum seekers who arrive at the southern border, lifting a lower court's block on the policy.
In July, the administration said it would consider asylum requests only from migrants who sought and were denied protection in the first country they traveled through, which in many cases would be Mexico. The restriction primarily affects Central Americans. Immediately after the new policy was announced, four immigrant-rights groups filed lawsuits, and earlier this week, a federal judge reinstated a nationwide injunction prohibiting the Trump administration from denying asylum to migrants. Those lawsuits are ongoing.
Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg did not agree with the Supreme Court's action, The Washington Post reports, with Sotomayor writing that the executive branch once again "issued a rule that seeks to upend longstanding practices regarding refugees who seek shelter from persecution. Although this nation has long kept its doors open to refugees — and although the stakes for asylum seekers could not be higher — the government implemented its rule without first providing the public notice and inviting the public input generally required by law."
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