ACLU Comment on Appeals Court Ruling in Forced Return to Mexico Lawsuit

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court has granted the Trump administration’s request to temporarily allow the government to continue to forcibly return asylum seekers to Mexico while it appeals an April 8 ruling that had blocked the policy.

The lawsuit, Innovation Law Lab v. McAleenan, was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, Southern Poverty Law Center, and Center for Gender & Refugee Studies.

Omar Jadwat, director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, had this reaction to today’s order:

“Asylum seekers are being put at serious risk of harm every day that the forced return policy continues. Notably, two of the three judges that heard this request found that there are serious legal problems with what the government is doing, so there is good reason to believe that ultimately this policy will be put to a halt.”

The ruling is at: https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/order-ninth-circuit-stay-ruling

This statement is at: https://www.aclu.org/news/aclu-comment-appeals-court-ruling-forced-return-mexico-lawsuit

For more on the asylum seekers’ struggle under this policy, read: “Trump’s New Policy is Stranding Asylum Seekers in Mexico.”