'This new rule is patently unlawful and we will sue swiftly,' said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project.
After the Trump administration announced sweeping restrictions on Monday that will block a significant share of asylum claims at the U.S. border, rights groups vowed to take swift action.
While the rule does make an exception for asylum seekers who either demonstrate that they satisfy the definition of a"victim of a severe form of trafficking in persons" or who have made their way to the U.S. through countries that did not participate in conventions enshrining the protection of asylum seekers, it will effectively see the majority of Central American asylum seekers, including unaccompanied children, turned away from the U.S. border.
In a statement, Attorney General William Barr asserted that the rule"is a lawful exercise of authority provided by Congress to restrict eligibility for asylum" in response to the country being"completely overwhelmed by the burdens associated with apprehending and processing hundreds of thousands of aliens along the southern border."
Melissa Crow, senior supervising attorney of the Immigrant Justice Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, also condemned the proposed rule, asserting that it would"essentially prevent anyone from besieged Central American countries from obtaining asylum in the United States and instead would trap them in anything but 'safe' conditions."
"Without question, there will be legal challenges to the regulation," she said in a post published on the Niskanen Center's website.
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