[Individualized asylum] interviews are guaranteed by the Immigration and Nationality Act, and Sullivan found “no legal basis for an effective categorical ban” on such claims.

"Because it is the will of Congress — not the whims of the executive — that determines the standard for expedited removal, the court finds that those policies are unlawful,” Sullivan wrote.

The plaintiffs include women who sought U.S. asylum for themselves and their children after fleeing domestic violence and gang brutality in their home countries. ...

“Credible fear determinations, like requests for asylum in general, must be resolved based on the particular facts and circumstances of each case,” he wrote. “The attorney general’s direction to deny most domestic violence or gang violence claims at the credible fear determination stage is fundamentally inconsistent with the threshold screening standard that Congress established: an alien’s removal may not be expedited if there is a ‘significant possibility’ that the alien could establish eligibility for asylum.”