Bill Mears and Brooke Singman, Fox News, December 19, 2018
A federal judge on Wednesday took the extraordinary step of ordering that asylum seekers who sued after their deportation be returned to the U.S. to have their claims heard anew, ruling against the Trump administration’s revised asylum policies.
The ruling from U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington came a day after the same judge presided over a contentious sentencing hearing for former national security adviser Michael Flynn — in which he questioned whether the ex-White House official committed “treason” and accused him of selling out the United States to foreign interests. {snip}
In his sweeping ruling Wednesday against the Trump administration’s immigration policies, Sullivan said recent changes violated federal law.
“The Court holds that it has jurisdiction to hear plaintiffs’ challenges to the credible fear policies, that it has the authority to order the injunctive relief, and that, with the exception of two policies, the new credible fear policies are arbitrary, capricious, and in violation of the immigration laws,” Sullivan concluded.
Judge Emmet Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for D.C.
Sullivan went a big step further by ordering that “the government 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.”
In addition to returning asylum seekers to the U.S., Sullivan blocked the Trump administration policies from being further applied.
In response to the decision, Justice Department spokesman Steven Stafford said: “Under the laws passed by Congress, asylum is only for those who have a legitimate fear of persecution on the basis of their race, nationality, religion, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. Attorney General Sessions’ ruling in Matter of A-B- was about following that requirement. We are reviewing our options with regard to this ruling, and we will continue to restore the rule of law in our immigration system.”
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“The vast majority of the current asylum claims are not valid,” Sessions said in June.
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The ACLU represented women who had endured “extensive persecution in the form of sexual and physical violence.”
“Judge Sullivan’s decision ensures that our asylum system remains open to refugees at our border, including those fleeing domestic violence and gang violence,” Eunice Lee, co-legal director of the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, said in a statement. {snip}