A federal judge on Wednesday ordered that asylum seekers who sued after their deportation should be returned to the U.S. to have their claims heard anew, ruling against the Trump administration’s revised asylum policies, Fox News informed.
The ruling from the U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington came a day after the same judge presided over a contentious sentencing hearing for former national security adviser Michael Flynn – in which he questioned whether the former White House official is guilty of “treason” and accused him of selling out the U.S. to foreign interests. He later postponed Flynn’s sentencing, as part of the Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe.
Sullivan also said that the recent change in the policies violated the federal law.
“The Court holds that it has jurisdiction to hear plaintiffs’ challenges to the credible fear policies, that it has the authority to order the injunctive relief, and that, with the exception of two policies, the new credible fear policies are arbitrary, capricious, and in violation of the immigration laws,” Sullivan concluded.
Sullivan went a big step further by ordering that “the government to return to the United States the plaintiffs who were unlawfully deported and to provide them with new credible fear determinations consistent with the immigration laws.”
In response to the decision, Justice Department spokesman Steven Stafford said: “Under the laws passed by Congress, asylum is only for those who have a legitimate fear of persecution on the basis of their race, nationality, religion, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. Attorney General Sessions’ ruling in Matter of A-B- was about following that requirement. We are reviewing our options with regard to this ruling, and we will continue to restore the rule of law in our immigration system.”
The decision signaled another legal blow for Trump’s efforts to put additional burden on the immigration policies without Congress changing laws.
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