Judge rules against mass detention of asylum seekers

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Monday ordered the Trump administration to end the systematic detention of asylum seekers and instead weigh on a case-by-case basis whether such immigrants pose a danger or flight risk. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled that administration officials were not abiding by a 2009 Immigration and Customs Enforcement directive that requires them to release, pending a judicial hearing, illegal immigrants who posed no risk and claimed a “credible fear” of persecution in their home countries. In previous years, officials have released up to 90 percent of such immigrants. By contrast, the Trump administration has been jailing most asylum seekers who cross the border illegally. “This Opinion does no more than hold the Government accountable to its own policy,” Boasberg wrote.