A group of US asylum officers urged a federal appeals court Wednesday to block a Trump administration program forcing Central American immigrants to remain in Mexico as their cases are processed in the US, calling the directive “fundamentally contrary to the moral fabric of our nation.”



The policy, called Migration Protection Protocols, was initiated earlier this year and has since expanded across various portions of the southern border. As of June 24, more than 15,000 people had been sent back to Mexico through the program, according to Mexican government officials.

“By forcing a vulnerable population to return to a hostile territory where they are likely to face persecution, the MPP abandons our tradition of providing a safe haven to the persecuted and violates our international and domestic legal obligations,” the asylum officers’ union, American Federation of Government Employees Local 1924, wrote.

The filing with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in California is the most recent turn in a pivotal case challenging the Trump administration’s attempt to deter asylum-seekers from crossing the border to request refuge. In the past week, the administration has come under fire as rapidly deteriorating conditions inside Border Patrol facilities have been revealed, and record numbers of families and children continue to cross the border.

In April, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking the policy, but before that could happen, the 9th Circuit Court instituted a temporary stay. Later, in May, the San Francisco–based panel — Judges Paul J. Watford, Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain, and William A. Fletcher — granted the government’s stay of the preliminary injunction, pending its appeal to the court, meaning the administration could continue to enforce the controversial policy while the case is decided.