Judge allows ‘third country’ asylum rule to take effect

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration can enforce new restrictions on asylum for people crossing the U.S.-Mexico border while lawsuits play out in the courts. Judge Timothy Kelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia denied a request for a temporary restraining order, saying the immigrant advocate groups that sued did not show that the policy would irreparably harm their work.

The new rules prevent most migrants at the southern border from seeking asylum in the United States if they passed through another country first. A separate hearing in a similar suit was scheduled later Wednesday in San Francisco. U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar, an appointee of President Barack Obama, has already stopped less restrictive policies on asylum from taking effect and could act to block the new asylum policy.