Supreme Court rejects Trump bid to enforce asylum crackdown

The Supreme Court on Friday blocked the Trump administration from immediately enforcing a strict new asylum policy, in a 5-4 decision that marks the second legal setback this week for efforts to tighten immigration rules.

The court, in a brief written order, denied a bid to begin enforcing an asylum ban for any immigrants who illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border.

The decision leaves in place lower-court rulings that blocked the administration from automatically denying asylum to people who do not go through official border crossings.

Chief Justice John Roberts provided the critical vote against the administration Friday, siding with the four liberal justices. Newly confirmed Justice Brett Kavanaugh and three other conservatives on the bench sided with the administration, the order said.

The Supreme Court order comes after a federal judge in a separate case took the extraordinary step this week of ordering that asylum seekers who sued after their deportation be returned to the U.S. to have their claims heard anew.

Nielsen made the announcement at a House Judiciary Committee hearing, telling the committee that the goal is to crack down on migrants falsely claiming asylum, only to be released into the U.S. and escape the radar of immigration officials.

“But by the time the courts have issued their orders, most of these illegal aliens have vanished within our country for good,” she said. “They have escaped the law, undermined the system, and made it harder for us to actually help real asylum-seekers by flooding the system with false claims.”

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