Trump administration condemns federal judge’s order blocking new asylum restrictions

The White House is condemning an order by a federal judge requiring President Donald Trump’s administration to stop denying asylum to anyone who transits through another country to reach the U.S. border.

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said Thursday the plaintiffs in the case found “a single district judge who will purport to dictate immigration policy to the entire Nation.” Grisham calls it “tyranny of a dysfunctional system.”

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar in San Francisco on Wednesday came hours after another federal judge in Washington, D.C., let the 9-day-old policy stand. The California judge’s preliminary injunction halts the policy while the lawsuit plays out in court.

Grisham says Trump will “pursue all available options to address this meritless ruling and to defend this Nation’s borders.”

The Trump administration policy would prevent most migrants from seeking asylum in the U.S. if they passed through another country first.

It targets tens of thousands of Central Americans who cross Mexico every month to try to enter the U.S. It also would affect asylum seekers from Africa, Asia and South America who arrive regularly at the southern border.

Legal groups argued the proposal was barred by federal law establishing how people can seek asylum.