US Supreme Court to decide on Trump ban on asylum claims at the border

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court Friday granted the Trump administration’s request to decide whether the federal government can ban asylum claims at the southern border. 

One of President Donald Trump’s first proclamations he signed at the start of his second term was a ban on asylum claims at the southern border on the grounds that there was an “invasion,” which the administration argued was a condition that allowed the president to invoke a section of the law to suspend asylum claims.

A federal judge found the policy unlawful, but decided to allow it to remain while litigation pursued. An appeals court upheld the lower court’s decision. 

The justices agreed to answer two questions, whether the proclamation that bans asylum is lawful and if a class action suit should be allowed. The case will be argued sometime during the coming months.

This is the third major immigration-related case the high court has agreed to hear this term. The justices also will decide whether the Trump administration can deport immigrants to countries to which they have no ties to and whether immigrants can be indefinitely detained. 

The justices earlier this year allowed the Trump administration to use a policy known as “metering” which allows immigration officials to turn away migrants applying from asylum at the southern border. 

The American Civil Liberties Union is representing the three immigration groups that brought the suit: the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, the Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center and the Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project. 

“The president does not have the right to unilaterally override the protections Congress has afforded those fleeing danger,” Lee Gelernt, lead counsel and deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said in a statement. “The courts are right to reject this unprecedented power grab that would put countless lives in danger. We look forward to making our case before the Supreme Court.”

A decision from the justices is likely next summer.