SPLC statement on Supreme Court’s denial of Trump administration's request to immediately enforce asylum ban

For the third time this week, our courts have dealt the Trump administration’s war on asylum seekers a serious blow. 

The U.S. Supreme Court today denied the Trump administration’s request to immediately enforce a new policy of denying asylum to migrants who cross the U.S.-Mexico border between ports of entry. The law is clearly on our side, and we are confident that we will ultimately prevail in the courts and the court of public opinion.

The high court’s decision today, which is the result of a lawsuit by the SPLC and its partners, provides some hope that the Trump administration will be forced to reconsider its inhumane policies concerning asylum seekers.

Unfortunately, the Trump administration does not appear to be deterred in putting forth inhumane and illegal policies despite these setbacks.

Today’s decision does not address the ongoing problem of turnbacks of asylum seekers at ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border, or the looming threat that asylum seekers will be forced to wait in Mexico for their hearings in U.S. immigration court.

In addition to fighting these policies in our courts, we are urging Congress to expand its oversight in these areas and use its powers to ensure federal agencies are in compliance with the law.

These policies and related practices have created the crisis at our southern border and can and will have tragic consequences until they are ended.