Federal Judge Enjoins Asylum Restrictions

Federal judge Emmet Sullivan has been in the news lately. having made headlines yesterday on his statements at what was supposed to be the sentencing of former President Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

Today, Judge Sullivan made immigration news.  As C. Ryan Barber for the National Law Journal reports, Judge Sullivan declared unlawful yesterday new restrictions imposed on immigrants seeking asylum in the U.S. on the basis of domestic violence and fear of gang violence.  The ruling came in Grace v. Sessions.

The judge ruled that the Trump administration had violated the Immigration and Nationality Act. He permanently enjoined the U.S. government from continuing the new policies, which were announced last summer by then-U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and demanded the return of immigrants named in the case who he said were unlawfully deported.

The article opines that

“Sullivan’s ruling marked the latest smackdown of the Trump administration’s asylum policies. In November, U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar in San Francisco ruled against the administration’s move to restrict asylum-seekers along the U.S. southern border with Mexico. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit this month upheld a temporary restraining order, and the Justice Department has taken that dispute to the U.S. Supreme Court.”

KJ