US court strikes down Trump asylum block in 9 states

A US appeals court has dealt a setback to the Trump administration’s plan to block asylum applications at the US-Mexico border by ruling against the policy in nine states. According to a report in The Independent, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said Donald Trump’s anti-immigration policy could not be applied in the nine states that make up the circuit, which includes two states (California and Arizona) that are on the border with Mexico. There was a partial win for the Trump administration as the court stopped short of applying its ruling nationwide and left open the possibility of the ban being applied in the other states which border Mexico – Texas and New Mexico. Trump’s policy would require most asylum-seekers to first seek safe haven in a third country, such as Mexico or Guatemala, before coming to the US. The court ruling came on the same day that California and other states, as well as a coalition of advocacy groups, filed lawsuits to stop a separate plan to reduce legal immigration by denying visas to poor migrants. The lawsuits are challenging a rule that would deny or revoke visas for legal immigrants who might become a ‘public charge’ due to failing to make enough money or receiving public assistance, such as welfare, food stamps or public housing. Trump has made reducing immigration, particularly by Central American migrants along the US-Mexico border, a central issue of his presidency.