WASHINGTON (Nexstar) — Federal judges handed down conflicting rulings in cases challenging a new Trump administration asylum rule.
The rule bans people from seeking asylum protections in the U.S. if they passed through another country first and didn’t seek asylum there.
On Wednesday a federal judge in D.C. allowed the rule to stand.
“So the asylum is a very big ruling, that was a tremendous ruling,” said Trump. “We respect the courts very much.”
But later in the day – a second judge in San Francisco heard a separate challenge and decided to block the rule, calling it arbitrary and capricious and called it inconsistent with the existing asylum laws.
In response, the White House strongly objected to the ruling, saying a single judge’s ability to block the rule is a sign of the “tyranny of a dysfunctional system”
Hundreds of students from around the country in the ACLU’s summer advocacy institute were on Capitol Hill to protest the administration’s immigration policies and celebrate the ruling blocking the latest asylum ban.
“I’m the voice for the voiceless,” said David Ruiz, a high school student. “Immigrants are the most vulnerable population in the country and the Trump administration has demonized them.”
Ruiz is a high school student from San Francisco. He said even though he’s seventeen he should be taken seriously.
“We’re watching and we’re seeing all the mistakes this administration is making,” he said. “And when we vote, which we will, we will change that.”
The ruling blocking the asylum rule is temporary but advocacy groups vow to continue fighting the change.
