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U.S. NEWS Saturday 10 November 2018

LIMIT ASYLUM than 50,000 people cross-
Continued from Front ing illegally in October, set-
"We need people in our ting a new high this year,
country, but they have to though illegal crossings are
come in legally," Trump well below historical highs
said Friday as he departed from previous decades.
for Paris. But the busy ports of en-
The American Civil Liber- try already have long lines
ties Union and other legal and waits, forcing immigra-
groups swiftly sued in fed- tion officials to tell some
eral court in Northern Cali- migrants to turn around
fornia to block the regula- and come back to make
tions, arguing the measures their claims. Backlogs have
were illegal. become especially bad in
"The president is simply try- recent months at crossings
ing to run roughshod over in California, Arizona and
Congress's decision to pro- Texas, with some people
vide asylum to those in waiting five weeks to try to
danger regardless of the claim asylum at San Diego's
manner of one's entry," said main crossing.
ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt. "The arrival of large num-
The litigation also seeks to bers ... will contribute to the
put the new rules on hold overloading of our immi-
while the case progresses. gration and asylum system
The regulations go into ef- and to the release of thou-
fect Saturday. They would sands ... into the interior of
be in place for at least the United States," Trump
three months but could be said in the proclamation,
extended, and don't af- calling it a crisis. A group of Central American migrants, representing the thousands participating in a caravan
trying to reach the U.S. border, undertake an hours-long march to the office of the United Nations'
fect people already in the Administration officials said humans rights body in Mexico City, Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018.
country. The Justice De- those denied asylum un- Associated Press
partment said in a state- der the proclamation may
ment the regulations were be eligible for similar forms some migrants back across soil and erect massive "tent gration court backlog has
lawful. of protection if they fear the border. Right now, laws cities" to detain migrants. more than doubled to 1.1
Trump's announcement returning to their countries, allow only Mexican nation- Those issues were not ad- million cases in about two
was the latest push to en- though they would be sub- als to be swiftly returned dressed by the regula- years, Syracuse University's
force a hard-line stance ject to a tougher threshold. and increasingly those tions. But Trump insisted the Transactional Records Ac-
on immigration through Those forms of protection claiming asylum are from citizenship issue would be cess Clearinghouse report-
regulatory changes and include "withholding of re- Central America. pushed through. ed this week. Generally,
presidential orders, bypass- moval" — which is similar to Trump pushed immigra- "We're signing it. We're do- only about 20 percent of
ing Congress, which has asylum, but doesn't allow tion issues hard in the days ing it," he said. applicants are approved.
not passed any immigra- for green cards or bringing leading up to Tuesday's The administration has It's unclear how many peo-
tion law reform. But those families — or protection un- midterm elections, railing long said immigration of- ple en route to the U.S. will
efforts have been largely der the United Nations Con- against the caravans that ficials are drowning in asy- even make it to the border.
thwarted by legal chal- vention Against Torture. are still hundreds of miles lum cases partly because Roughly 5,000 migrants —
lenges and, in the case of Homeland Security officials from the border. people falsely claim asy- more than 1,700 under the
family separations this year, said they were adding staff- He has made little mention lum and then live in the age of 18 — sheltered in a
stymied by a global outcry ing at the border crossings of the issue since the elec- U.S. with work permits. In Mexico City sports complex
that prompted Trump to to manage the expected tion, but has sent troops 2017, the U.S. fielded more decided to depart Friday
retreat. Officials said the crush, but it's not clear how to the border in response. than 330,000 asylum claims, for the northern city of Tijua-
asylum law changes are migrants, specifically fami- As of Thursday, there were nearly double the number na, opting for the longer but
meant to funnel migrants lies, would be held as their more than 5,600 U.S. troops two years earlier and sur- likely safer route to the U.S.
through official border cases are adjudicated. deployed to the border passing Germany as high- border. Similar caravans
crossings for speedy rulings Family detention centers mission, with about 550 ac- est in the world. have gathered regularly
instead of having them try are largely at capacity. tually working on the bor- Migrants who cross illegally over the years and have
to circumvent such cross- Trump has said he wanted der in Texas. are generally arrested and generally dwindled by the
ings on the nearly 2,000- to erect "tent cities," but Trump also suggested he'd often seek asylum or some time they reach the south-
mile (3,200-kilometer) bor- nothing has been funded. revoke the right to citizen- other form of protection. ern border, particularly to
der. The U.S. Border Patrol The U.S. is also working with ship for babies born to non- Claims have spiked in re- Tijuana. Most have passed
says it apprehended more Mexico in an effort to send U.S. citizens on American cent years and the immi- largely unnoticed.q