Before this year, those seeking asylum in the United States were allowed to remain on American soil while awaiting their court hearings. In January, the Trump administration announced a new policy: families seeking asylum couldn’t remain in the United States while their case was processed. They could return for their court date, but not before.
Yesterday afternoon, a federal court blocked the so-called “Remain in Mexico” policy.
A federal judge in California issued an order Monday blocking the Trump administration’s policy of returning some asylum-seekers to Mexico while they wait for a court appearance.
U.S. District Court Judge Richard Seeborg’s nationwide ruling will not go into effect until Friday, to give the administration time to appeal.
It’s worth emphasizing that the judge in the case didn’t strike down the policy itself, but rather, as NBC News’ report added, he determined that the asylum-seekers who filed the suit had “enough of a case to issue a temporary order blocking the policy.”
Donald Trump, who’s lost a lot of cases lately, especially in areas related to immigration and the border, was apparently not pleased with yesterday’s developments, calling them “so unfair.”
The president added in a tweet, in all capital letters, “Out of control!”
There was a degree of irony to the missive — because if anyone’s out of control, it’s Donald Trump.
It’s the president, after all, who’s purging the top ranks of the Department of Homeland Security, in part because his outgoing cabinet secretary was reluctant to follow Trump’s lead when he asked her to do things that were “clearly illegal.”
It was also the president who, just last week, reportedly told U.S. border officials that they could ignore the laws he doesn’t like.
“At the end of the day,” one senior administration official told CNN, “the president refuses to understand that the Department of Homeland Security is constrained by the laws.”
Who, in this picture, is the one who’s “out of control”?
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."