ACLU sues over Trump ban on asylum at US-Mexico border

By Ted Hesson and Jack Queen

WASHINGTON -A leading U.S. civil rights group accused President Donald Trump on Monday of violating U.S. laws and international treaties with his sweeping ban on asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.

A lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union challenges a ban issued by Trump after taking office on Jan. 20 that blocks all migrants "engaged in the invasion across the southern border" from claiming asylum or other humanitarian protections.

Trump, a Republican, has taken an array of executive actions to deter illegal immigration and ramp up arrests and deportations of migrants in the U.S. illegally. The actions include sending additional U.S. military troops to the border and directing other federal agencies to assist immigration enforcement.

Trump's ban on asylum at the border goes further than restrictions put in place by former President Joe Biden in June to discourage illegal crossings. Biden's restrictions were coupled with a legal entry program that allowed 1,450 migrants per day to schedule appointments at a legal border crossing to request asylum, an initiative that Trump ended hours after taking office.

The Biden restrictions remain in place and are subject to a separate ACLU legal challenge.

"This is an unprecedented power grab that will put countless lives in danger," said Lee Gelernt, an ACLU attorney who has litigated other prominent asylum cases. "No president has the authority to unilaterally override the protections Congress has afforded those fleeing danger."

White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement that Trump had been "given a resounding mandate to end the disregard and abuse of our immigration laws and secure our borders" and would "continue to put Americans and America First."

The ACLU-led lawsuit was filed on behalf of three immigrant advocacy groups in Texas and Arizona in federal court in Washington, D.C.

The groups said in the lawsuit that Trump’s proclamation runs counter to U.S. asylum laws.

“It is returning asylum seekers — not just single adults, but families too — to countries where they face persecution or torture, without allowing them to invoke the protections Congress has provided,” they said, noting that it did not grant exceptions for unaccompanied children.

The ACLU successfully blocked several Trump policies restricting asylum during his 2017-2021 presidency.

Trump's latest asylum ban employs a statute known as 212(f) to block all migrants at the southern border from claiming asylum, the same legal authority Trump used for his travel ban policies targeting Muslim-majority countries and other nations.

The Supreme Court upheld a version of Trump's travel ban in 2018.

(Reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington and Jack Queen in New York; Editing reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Leslie Adler, Noeleen Walder, Aurora Ellis and Saad Sayeed)