Federal judge strikes down Trump asylum rules for domestic and gang violence victims

In a ruling Wednesday, Judge Emmet Sullivan struck down large portions of Justice Department policies that made it harder for immigrants to claim asylum.

A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed Justice Department policies that made it harder for immigrants to claim asylum because of domestic violence or gang violence, finding the policies violated existing law.

Judge Emmet Sullivan of the U.S. District Court in Washington ruled the harsher Justice Department policies ordered by former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions were “arbitrary, capricious and in violation of the immigration laws.”

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 in his 107-page decision.

He permanently blocked the government “from continuing to apply those policies and from removing plaintiffs who are currently in the United States without first providing credible fear determinations consistent with the immigration laws,” and ordered the feds “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.”

The ruling was hailed by the American Civil Liberties Union, which had challenged DOJ’s “expedited removal” policies in court.

“This ruling is a defeat for the Trump administration’s all-out assault on the rights of asylum seekers. The government’s attempt to obliterate asylum protections is unlawful and inconsistent with our country’s longstanding commitment to provide protection to immigrants fleeing for their lives,” said Jennifer Chang Newell, managing attorney of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, who argued the case.

The policies were announced by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessionswho said in June that fear of domestic abuse or gang violence is not an acceptable basis for granting asylum. Read more

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Federal judge strikes down Trump asylum rules for domestic and gang violence victims

In a ruling Wednesday, Judge Emmet Sullivan struck down large portions of Justice Department policies that made it harder for immigrants to claim asylum.