A US appeals court on Friday dealt a setback to the Trump administration attempt to bar almost all asylum applications at the U.S.-Mexico border, but stopped short of applying its decision nationwide. While ruling against a provision of President Donald Trump's hard-line anti-immigration policy, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals said the decision would only apply to the nine Western states that make up the 9th Circuit. Only two of those nine, California and Arizona, are on the border with Mexico. That left open the possibility that the sweeping ban, which requires most asylum-seekers to first seek safe haven in a third country, could be applied in the other border states of Texas and New Mexico. The appellate 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 Trump initiative to reduce legal immigration by denying visas to poor migrants. The flurry of legal activity is attempting to halt major policy moves by the Trump administration to crack down on immigration, an issue central to the Republican president's political fortunes. One of Trump's main objectives has been to reduce the number of asylum claims by mostly Central American migrants who have crossed the US-Mexico border in record numbers during his presidency. His July 15 rule promptly drew legal challenges including from a coalition of groups led by the American Civil Liberties Union. On July 24, US District Judge Jon Tigar in San Francisco issued a preliminary injunction blocking it from taking affect. The government appealed Tigar's decision. In Friday's ruling a three-judge panel found the Trump administration had failed to comply with portions of the law that governs rule-making. "The court properly refused to let the new asylum ban go into effect, though currently limited to the Ninth Circuit. We will continue fighting to end the ban entirely," ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt said in a statement. The White House said in a statement that it "strongly" disagreed with the decision and hoped the injunction would be lifted on appeal. "While the injunction remains overbroad - even as modified by the Ninth Circuit's decision - we will now be able to apply the rule at issue to curb asylum abuse outside of the Ninth Circuit," the statement said. The ruling could provide an incentive for more asylum-seekers to cross the US border in California and Arizona, as opposed to Texas and New Mexico. The Trump administration has said it needs to curtail asylum cases because the vast majority are ultimately found to be without merit. -Reuters
