District Court Judge Jon Tigar overreached when he blocked President Donald Trump from barring asylum to illegal immigrants, according to a former immigration judge on Tuesday morning.
Tigar serves as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
The administration has said it will appeal the ruling.
The judge ruled that a policy announced by the president on November 9 to prevent immigrants from getting asylum if they entered the country illegally was in conflict with immigration law and the intent of Congress.
Former immigration judge Art Arthur argued on Tuesday on “The Laura Ingraham Show” that the ruling puts political preference above the law.
“The idea that in the United States we elect people to make very important decisions and then all of a sudden a completely unelected individual can step in with no knowledge of the subject matter and say, ‘I don’t really buy that, I’m going to institute a temporary restraining order,’ is bizarre,” said Arthur to host Laura Ingraham.
Arthur currently works as a resident fellow in law at the Center for Immigration Studies.
“[In] what other systems would this be allowed?” he said.
Trump announced his policy in response to the northward movement of caravans consisting of thousands of migrants, who have traveled to the southern border from Central America.
The president has worked to prevent the caravans from entering the country illegally by mobilizing the military along the border and threatening to cut aid to countries that let the migrants pass through.
“Under the law as Judge Tigar pronounced it, if you enter the United States illegally, you can still claim credible fear and apply for asylum,” Arthur said on Tuesday.
“What the president did was, he said, ‘We want to give you the opportunity to make that claim, but we need you to do it in an orderly and controlled fashion. So you need to show up at a port of entry so that we can process you in an orderly fashion.'”
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Trump has been challenged on his power to restrict immigration throughout his presidency — and the caravan issue is no different. Federal immigration laws allow the president to suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens.
But some critics claim he is beholden to international agreements to process credible asylum claims.
Listen to the segment on “The Laura Ingraham Show”:
The U.S. Supreme Court made clear the president has that power when he was sued for blocking travel from several predominantly Muslim countries this past spring. But since he isn’t blocking them outright this time, he could be beholden to restrictions.
The current legal challenges could even make their way to the Supreme Court.
You mean like Obama did? #DACA https://t.co/rY5isC6nMB
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) November 20, 2018
Trump also attempted an earlier crackdown on illegal immigration that resulted in children being separated from the adults who illegally brought them into the country; that policy was ultimately changed.
Many of the illegal immigrants had children with them when asking for asylum.
But that process can often take longer than the 20 days immigration officials are allowed to hold children.
And check out this video:
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