Supreme Court rules to limit asylum requests along US-Mexico border
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Trump Administration Thursday to limit asylum policies in the country. International ports of entry won't be considered pathways for migrants to apply for asylum.
The justices voted 6-3 to overturn a lower court order blocking a practice that limited the number of people who could apply for asylum daily.
The policy was used during former President Barack Obama and President Trump's first term.
ABC-7 reached out to the Department of Homeland Security and they sent us the following written statement:
“We had to go all the way to SCOTUS to vindicate the principle that an alien is not “in the United States” until he is, in fact, in the United States. We have yet AGAIN been vindicated by the Supreme Court. This decision opens up an important tool to continue securing our southern border,” said Department of Homeland Security's General Counsel James Percival.
A spokesperson with the White House also sent us the following written statement:
“This is a tremendous win for the Trump Administration, the rule of law, and common sense. President Trump remains committed to lawfully restoring integrity to our immigration system, which includes tackling the egregious abuses to our asylum system that the prior administration encouraged. We will always put the American people first,” said Abigail Jackson WH spokeswoman.
The Executive Director of Estrella del Paso, Melissa M. Lopez, says the Supreme Court's decision is not a good one for asylum seekers or for people in the region, on both sides of the US-Mexico border.
This decision will effectively give officials at the Ports of Entry the ability to turn away anybody seeking asylum and according to Executive Director Lopez, this is contrary to hundreds of years of practice along the US-Mexico border, which could have tremendous effects, she added.
"So what this means is that basically the ports of entry have always been considered US soil and the way that asylum law works is once you're on US soil, you have the right to seek asylum, that's the way asylum laws are written," Lopez said. "What the court did today is decide that, effectively, those ports of entry are not U.S. soil, and thus people who are presenting at the bridges, but remember that airports are also considered ports of entry, so that means that anybody who's at an airport, even if the airport is in the middle of the United States, those individuals could be turned away and and be told that they're not able to seek asylum."
"We're going to see a lot more people who are going to get pushed into the deserts and we are in the middle of the summer and you know, the summer heat between El Paso and especially the Tucson sector, we're talking very, very hot conditions and unsafe conditions for people and I think that's what decisions like this do when you aroad the lawful process for people to seek asylum, you push them into unsafe conditions," Lopez added.
