Immigration advocates accuse the Trump administration of being more aggressive with the metering system than officials under former President Barack Obama to slow the flow of migrants at ports of entry. Because of a backlog in the immigration courts, migrants can sometimes wait for years for a judge to determine the validity of their asylum claim. A federal court has issued a temporary restraining order against the new regulations, which draw upon the same authority Mr. Trump used just days after his inauguration to ban travel from several predominantly Muslim countries. In July, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions made it all but impossible for asylum seekers to gain entry into the United States by citing fears of domestic abuse or gang violence. “Yet the asylum statute does not provide redress for all misfortune.”Mr. Trump has fumed for months about the surge of immigrants crossing into the United States from Mexico.

Source: New York Times December 10, 2018 21:56 UTC