Washington, DC – Today in response to a President Trump-appointed federal judge’s ruling that the Trump Administration illegally attempted to add a bar to asylum without following legally required rulemaking procedures, Kids in Need of Defense President Wendy Young issued the following statement:
“Congress has been unwaveringly clear that children who reach our border seeking safety from their countries of origin are to be given a full and child-appropriate process to seek humanitarian protection. Last July, the Trump Administration put in place its ‘third country transit bar’ that attempted to sidestep Congress and close the asylum system to nearly every person who reaches the border by fleeing through Mexico. This asylum bar was unlawful and enormously harmful to all asylum seekers, including children, who need protection. I welcome Judge Kelly’s ruling striking down the regulation as illegally promulgated. The Trump Administration should stop defending this clearly illegal provision and start focusing on the United States’ long-held commitment to protecting vulnerable children seeking safety.”
KIND filed amicus briefs in the cases, CAIR Coalition v. Trump and I.A. v. Barr, represented by Goodwin Procter LLP.
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Media Contact: Megan McKenna, mmckenna@supportkind.org, 202-631-9990