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US Court Blocks Trump's New Asylum Rules - Reports

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - A district court in San Francisco has blocked a new proclamation signed by US President Donald Trump that bars migrants from applying for asylum if they enter the United States illegally, USA Today reported.
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According to USA Today, the ban on Trump's new rules was signed by US District Judge Jon Tigar on 19 November and will be effective until December 19.

"The rule barring asylum for immigrants who enter the country outside a port of entry irreconcilably conflicts with the INA [Immigration and Nationality Act] and the expressed intent of Congress. Whatever the scope of the President’s authority, he may not rewrite the immigration laws to impose a condition that Congress has expressly forbidden," Tigar said, as quoted by the media outlet.

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Commenting on the court's decision, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice issued a joint statement:

"It is absurd that a set of advocacy groups can be found to have standing to sue to stop the entire federal government from acting so that illegal aliens can receive a government benefit to which they are not entitled," the statement reads.

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The statement was made after Trump signed the proclamation denying asylum to illegal immigrants seeking to enter the United States as a caravan of several thousand migrants approached the US land border with Mexico. Civil rights groups said they would challenge the proclamation.

The court's decision has been made amid protests when about 500 people recently took to the streets against the migrant caravan of about 3,000 people in Tijuana, that frightened the residents of the city. 

As a part of the efforts to prevent the caravan from entering the US, Trump has recently deployed thousands of American troops to the southern border.

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