Asylum ban: Trump eliminates right to asylum for immigrants crossing without documentation
By
Eric London
9 November 2018
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Justice Department issued a joint statement yesterday announcing a new federal regulation barring immigrants who cross the US border without documentation from applying for asylum.
The decision is the most significant restriction on immigration in decades, as the vast majority of asylum seekers apply from within the country. It will cause hundreds of thousands of deportations and family separations, and send countless immigrants to their deaths, largely in Mexico and Central America. It is aimed at whipping up racist and xenophobic sentiment against vulnerable workers from Latin America in particular.
The announcement comes as Democrats pledge their willingness to “collaborate” with President Trump. The asylum ban passed unnoticed at Democratic Party rallies held yesterday to oppose the firing of Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland called for “a round of applause for AG Sessions,” ignoring the fact that Sessions was the architect of the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant policies.
Citing “national security,” the DHS-Justice Department statement announcing the asylum ban reads, “Our asylum system is overwhelmed with too many meritless asylum claims from aliens who place a tremendous burden on our resources.”
Immigrants will only be allowed to apply for asylum if they present themselves at a port of entry, which means they would have to wait in detention for months or years before rigged courts and prosecutors weigh their asylum applications.
Courts near the border have the highest asylum denial rates, meaning many more claims will be…