US Supreme Court to review Trump administration's border wall funding, asylum policy

WASHINGTON - The US Supreme Court on Monday agreed to review lawsuits over President Donald Trump's controversial immigration policies including using military funds to build a US-Mexican border wall and requiring asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico while their cases are heard in US courts.

In both cases, the Trump administration sought Supreme Court review after lower federal courts rebuffed the president's bids to curb migration into the United States from Mexico.

A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in June ruled 2-1 that Trump's diversion of Pentagon funding that was not originally earmarked for border wall construction violated the Appropriations Clause of the Constitution, which gives Congress the exclusive power of the purse.

Lower federal courts in California also ruled that a policy called the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), which aims to curb asylum-seekers' entry into the United States from Mexico, violates US immigration law and contravenes international human rights norms.

The Trump administration argues that the MPP policy has helped alleviate the "migration crisis" at the US southern border since it was implemented early last year, according to a report by The Hill.

According to the Department of Homeland Security's data from March, more than 60,000 asylum-seekers had been blocked from entry into the United States, said the report.