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The American Civil Liberties Union on Friday filed a lawsuit to block President Trump’s new asylum proclamation, USA Today reports. The organization filed the lawsuit in a Northern California court, and it seeks a court injunction to prevent the implementation of Trump’s new asylum restrictions. The ACLU claims the president’s new policy violates a 1965 immigration law stating that any foreigner who arrives in the U.S., “whether or not at a designated port of arrival,” may apply for asylum. “The new asylum ban is flatly unlawful and may result in many people being sent back to danger,” Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, told the newspaper. “Neither the President nor the Attorney General may override the immigration laws enacted by Congress.”
The new White House policy states that any immigrants who illegally enter the United States will be “placed into expedited deportation proceedings,” instead of going through the asylum process. Trump made the policy official on Friday by signing a proclamation. “They’re flooding our country, we’re not letting them in. But they’re trying to flood our country,” Trump said Friday, referencing to the migrant caravan that is walking to the southern border.