Statement: Today’s Supreme Court Ruling on Asylum Contrary to U.S. Practice

In response to today’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court allowing the United States to deny asylum requests from migrants at the southern border who have traveled through Mexico or another country without seeking protection there, Refugees International’s U.S. Senior Advocate Yael Schacher issued the following statement:

“Today’s ruling by the Supreme Court is a blow to the desperate needs of asylum seekers at our southern border. We are gravely disappointed the nation’s highest court has lifted an injunction on a policy that—by barring asylum to anyone, including families and unaccompanied children, who passes through a third country—is contrary to long-established U.S. practice. This is yet another attempt by the Trump administration to bar people, especially from Central America, from seeking protection in the United States from violence and persecution. It is also another attempt by the administration to brazenly circumvent existing law. We hope this asylum ban will last only as long as the legal fight against it continues in the courts.”

(Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)