Washington, DC – Several immigrant rights groups in the United States, as well as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), have filed a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s ban on asylum claims.
The case represents the most recent attempt to oppose Trump’s hardline immigration policies, which have targeted both those seeking safety from abroad as well as those already living there.
The president’s lawsuit, like other ones against the Trump administration, contends that he overstepped his constitutional authority and obstructs existing laws.
Currently, it is legal for asylum seekers to cross into the US if they are fleeing persecution.
“This is an unprecedented power grab that will put countless lives in danger”, Lee Gallant, the deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants ‘ Rights Project, said in a statement.
No president has the authority to revoke the protections that Congress has provided for those who are in danger.
The complaint makes reference to US government regulations and international treaty obligations that require individual applicants to apply for asylum. The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) is one of those included.
According to the lawsuit, “Congress has instituted a comprehensive statutory system that allows noncitizens fleeing persecution or torture in the United States.”
The government is doing what Congress by statute required of the United States to not do under the Proclamation. It sends asylum seekers to nations where they are subject to persecution or torture, including families and single adults.
A day-one proclamation
One of the proclamations that Trump signed on the first day of his second term is directly at issue in the complaint from Monday.
Trump released a document titled “Guaranteeing the States Protection Against Invasion” shortly after his inauguration on January 20.
He stated in it that undocumented immigrants are not permitted to invoke INA provisions that would keep them in the country.
The Republican leader cited risks to “national security” as well as the possibility of “communicable disease” as his rationale. He also argued that the southern border of the US had been “overwhelmed” with entries.
According to Trump, “I therefore direct that such aliens’ entry into the United States be suspended until I establish that the southern border invasion has stopped.”
The Republican leader had long advocated for a strict immigration policy, including the idea of closing the border to asylum seekers.
His 2024 re-election campaign was defined by the same nativist rhetoric, including claims that the US was being “invaded by a migrant “invasion.”
Trump repeatedly blamed undocumented people for the country’s woes, from violent crime to unemployment.
A backlash
Using the court system to question their legal merits, organizations like the ACLU have attempted to counter Trump’s policies.
The lawsuit contends that Trump’s proclamation goes against both international treaties and US law in the case of Monday.
The US, for example, ratified the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees, a treaty that establishes protections for refugees.
The Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center in Texas, according to Jennifer Babaie, director of advocacy and legal services, “will not stand idly by as our immigration laws are manipulated,” according to a statement released on Monday.
Any government attempt to blatantly violate our laws, regardless of who’s individual beliefs are, has a serious impact on all communities across the country, Babaie said.
Along with the Texas Civil Rights Project, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Service (RAICES), and the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, the Texas-based organization is one of four named plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
Wave of legal challenges
However, Trump’s immigration policies extend beyond seeking asylum in his first two terms.
Trump signed a number of executive orders to halt immigration and remove undocumented people from the US even in the first hours of his presidency.
Trump increased immigration enforcement, sent more troops to the US border, suspended the refugee program, and canceled an online application that asylum seekers used to make appointments for US immigration appointments.
Some asylum seekers had been awaiting appointments through the CBP One app for months. The app’s removal nullified their scheduled meetings, leaving them in limbo.
Rights groups filed a lawsuit challenging the CBP One’s dissolution in the aftermath.
Other legal challenges seek to oppose Trump’s expansion of “expedited removal” processes, which would quickly expel undocumented individuals from the country.
And others have fought to overturn a stop-work order that curbed funding for detained immigrants’ legal services.
At least five lawsuits have been filed against Trump’s executive order, which calls for the end of birthright citizenship in the US, in addition to the above.
Source: Aljazeera
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