SAN DIEGO (CNS) - A lawsuit filed against the Trump administration this week in San Diego federal court alleges the administration illegally shut down asylum processing at ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The lawsuit argues Trump's Inauguration Day cancellation of all pending asylum screening appointments via the CBP One app unlawfully shut off access to the U.S. asylum process.
The plaintiffs' attorneys said in a statement the government "pulled the rug out from under people who had been waiting to schedule appointments at ports of entry and imposed vague, onerous documentation requirements as a pretext to bar access to the asylum process."
The plaintiffs say the appointment cancellations have left "approximately 30,000 asylum seekers stranded in Mexico without any recourse," and leaves them to face dangerous and deadly circumstances south of the border.
The plaintiffs include a woman who sought asylum after testifying in a criminal case against a Mexican cartel. After their CBP One appointment was canceled on Jan. 20, she and her husband were forced into hiding, their attorneys say.
Along with 11 individual plaintiffs hailing from Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Haiti, Russia, Guatemala, and Ecuador, Al Otro Lado and the Haitian Bridge Alliance are also plaintiffs. Both entities are nonprofit organizations that assist migrants in navigating the immigration and asylum processes.
"Trump's asylum shutdown policy is a stark reminder that we, as a nation, have learned nothing from the Holocaust, that we have neither regret nor memory of 1938, when we turned away over 900 Jewish refugees aboard the MS St. Louis who were then fleeing Hitler's rapid takeover of Europe," said Nicole Elizabeth Ramos, Al Otro Lado's Border Rights Project Director. "Under this policy, at U.S. ports of entry all across the U.S.-México border, it is the MS St. Louis every single day, and while there is no way that we will ever be able to quantify the death toll, we do know who is to blame. The pressing question for those who enforce and uphold this illegal policy is: Can you live with this much blood on your hands?"
Copyright 2025, City News Service, Inc.
