Rights groups sue US govt over new asylum rule

LOS ANGELES, California - The American Civil Liberties Union and other advocacy groups filed a lawsuit on Tuesday, challenging a new rule by the Trump administration barring most immigrants from obtaining US asylum if they pass through Mexico.

The new rule redefining asylum eligibility was to take effect on Tuesday. It is the latest attempt to stem the flow of undocumented migrants into the United States and comes with the White House frustrated at Congress's failure to toughen immigration laws.

"This is the Trump administration's most extreme run at an asylum ban yet," ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt said in a statement after the suit was filed at federal court in San Francisco.

"It clearly violates domestic and international law, and cannot stand," Gelernt added.

Cracking down on migration has been a signature policy of US President Donald Trump.

The lawsuit against the government argues that the new rule was in violation of immigration laws that clearly state that asylum could not be denied based on a person's route to the US.

"As part of our nation's commitment to the protection of people fleeing persecution and consistent with our international obligations, it is long-standing federal law that merely transiting through a third country is not a basis to categorically deny asylum to refugees who arrive at our shores," the complaint reads.

Attorney General Bill Barr said on Monday that the new restrictive measure was necessary because the US was overwhelmed by the number of asylum-seekers coming in through the southern border.

"This rule will decrease forum shopping by economic migrants and those who seek to exploit our asylum system to obtain entry to the United States," Barr said.

But the plaintiffs in the suit, including the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Center for Constitutional Rights, insist the measure is part of an attempt to undermine the US asylum system and close the door to refugees fleeing persecution.

"This administration's relentless war on asylum-seekers is nothing short of despicable," said Melissa Crow, an attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center's Immigrant Justice Project.

"Through policy after policy, this administration has manufactured the crisis at our southern border," she said, adding the new rule would worsen the situation and jeopardize the safety of migrants fleeing persecution.

Meanwhile, Mexican Foreign Ministry has succeeded in "substantially" curbing the flow of undocumented Central American migrants passing through its southern border.

"The flow of irregular entry at Mexico's southern border has been substantially reduced," said Maximiliano Reyes, deputy foreign minister responsible for Latin America and the Caribbean, in a radio interview.

"When we began the whole strategy, about 3,000 people entered in an irregular way (without documents). Now, about 400 to 500 are entering," he said.

Afp - Xinhua

(China Daily 07/18/2019 page12)