MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US Supreme Court rules in favor of Trump's asylum policy for immigrants at US/Mexico border


The rule requires most immigrants who want US asylum to first seek asylum in a third country they had travelled through on their way to the United States.

The US Supreme Court granted a request by President Donald Trump's administration to fully enforce a new rule that would curtail asylum applications by immigrants at the US-Mexico border, a key element of his hardline immigration policies.

The court said the rule, which requires most immigrants who want asylum to first seek safe haven in a third country through which they had travelled on their way to the United States, could go into effect as litigation challenging its legality continues.

Liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissented.

The rule, unveiled on Jul 15, requires most immigrants who want US asylum to first seek asylum in a third country they had travelled through on their way to the United States.

The San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals on Aug 16 limited a federal judge's injunction blocking the rule to the nine Western states over which it has jurisdiction including the border states of California and Arizona. 

That had left open the possibility that the rule could be applied in the two other border states, Texas and New Mexico.

The American Civil Liberties Union and others who challenged the administration's policy in federal court said it violates US immigration law and accused the administration of failing to follow the correct legal process in issuing the rule.