From: januarybaybee@gmail.com   
      
   Thomson Reuters · Posted: Dec 21, 2018   
      
      
   U.S. Supreme Court rejects Trump bid to enforce new asylum rules   
      
   Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts joined 4 liberal justices in denying   
   request   
      
   The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday dealt a setback to President Donald Trump by   
   refusing to allow his administration to implement new rules prohibiting asylum   
   for people who cross the U.S. border illegally, with conservative Chief   
   Justice John Roberts    
   joining the four liberal justices in denying the request.   
      
   The justices on a 5-4 vote rebuffed the Trump administration's request to put   
   on hold a California-based federal judge's order, at least temporarily   
   preventing it from carrying out the policy intended to make anyone crossing   
   the U.S.-Mexican border    
   outside of an official port of entry ineligible for asylum.   
      
   The planned asylum change was a key component of Trump's hardline policies   
   aimed at making it tougher for immigrants to enter and stay in the United   
   States.   
      
   Roberts, who last month rebuked Trump over his criticism of the judiciary,   
   joined liberal Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan and   
   Sonia Sotomayor against the administration.  Trump's two high court   
   appointees, Brett Kavanaugh and    
   Neil Gorsuch, joined the two other conservative justices, Clarence Thomas and   
   Samuel Alito, in dissent.   
      
   "The Supreme Court's decision to leave the asylum ban blocked will save lives   
   and keep vulnerable families and children from persecution. We are pleased the   
   court refused to allow the administration to short-circuit the usual appellate   
   process," said Lee    
   Gelernt, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, which challenged   
   Trump's policy.   
      
   San Francisco-based U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar blocked the policy on Nov.   
   19. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals then refused the   
   administration's request to lift Tigar's order.   
      
   Supreme Court Chief Justice of the U.S. John Roberts joined the four liberal   
   justices in denying the request. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via AP)​   
      
   Tigar's ruling prompted Trump to call the jurist an "Obama judge" and blast   
   the 9th Circuit in general as a "disgrace." Tigar was appointed to the bench   
   by Democratic former President Barack Obama.   
      
   Trump's comments led to an extraordinary response from the normally reticent   
   Roberts, who defended the independence of the federal judiciary and wrote in a   
   public response to Trump on Nov. 21, "We do not have Obama judges or Trump   
   judges, Bush judges or    
   Clinton judges."   
      
   The port-of-entry restrictions, due to expire after 90 days, were made through   
   a presidential proclamation Trump issued on Nov. 9 alongside a new   
   administration rule. The administration has sought ways to block thousands of   
   Central American men, women    
   and children travelling in caravans to escape violence and poverty in their   
   home countries from entering the U.S., with Trump calling the people in the   
   caravans a national security threat.   
      
   Illegal crossings at the southern border have dropped dramatically since the   
   late 1970s, but in recent years, applications for asylum have ballooned and   
   more Central American families and unaccompanied children are migrating to the   
   U.S.   
      
   Trump's proclamation stated that mass migration on the border had precipitated   
   a crisis, and he was acting to protect the U.S. national interest. Trump's   
   policy was crafted to alter American asylum laws that have given people   
   fleeing persecution and    
   violence in their homelands the ability to seek sanctuary in the U.S.   
      
   On Wednesday, a different judge blocked another of Trump's asylum-related   
   orders, this one aimed at restricting asylum claims by people citing gang or   
   domestic violence in their home countries.   
      
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