Trump administration can keep sending asylum-seekers to Mexico, court rules

The ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in San Francisco, allows the government to continue enforcing the policy, formally called the Migration Protection Protocols, while the legal issues of the case are being decided. It was an unusual victory for the Trump administration in the liberal-leaning court, though the judges did not rule on the merits of the case.

The Trump administration introduced the “Remain in Mexico” program four months ago for migrants entering the country in San Diego and has since expanded it to El Paso, Texas. Immigration lawyers have said that it undermines the migrants’ access to legal counsel and due process because they cannot reach the help that is available on the American side of the border while pursuing their asylum claims.

“The 9th Circuit court’s decision is devastating. Subjecting vulnerable families to this program is inexcusable,” said Taylor Levy, an immigration lawyer in El Paso who has escorted several migrants to court in recent weeks.

She said that families are being dropped off on the streets of Ciudad Juárez, across the border, where they cannot find space in shelters which are at capacity. Many, she said, are being targeted by robbers and kidnappers. “We have had multiple families kidnapped for extortion,” she said.

But a majority of the three-judge panel concluded that allowing the policy to remain in place for now was not unreasonable.

“The plaintiffs fear substantial injury upon return to Mexico, but the likelihood of harm is reduced somewhat by the Mexican government’s commitment to honor its international-law obligations and to grant humanitarian status and work permits to individuals returned,” the judges concluded.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.