In lengthy and fiery comments to reporters outside the White House on
Tuesday, President Trump excoriated the liberal-leaning Ninth Circuit
Court of Appeals as a "disgrace" hours after an Obama-appointed federal
judge there issued a nationwide injunction against his newly announced emergency restrictions on asylum claims.
The
president vowed immediate action and said he was "going to put in a
major complaint" about the appellate court, based in San Francisco,
without elaborating.
He also broadly criticized the increasingly
common practice of individual federal judges bringing unilateral halts
to executive branch policy, which has already happened more than two
dozen times under the Trump administration. The president specifically
cited the Ninth Circuit's injunction against his ban on travel from
several Muslim-majority nations, which was ultimately ruled a constitutional exercise of presidential authority this year by the Supreme Court.
"You
go to Ninth Circuit and it's a disgrace, and I'm going to put in a
major complaint. Because you cannot win, if you're us, a case in the
Ninth Circuit," Trump said. "Every case gets filed in the Ninth Circuit.
... We get beaten, and then we end up having to go to the Supreme Court
-- like the travel ban -- and we won. We're gonna have to look at
that."
He added: "That's not law. That's not what this country stands for."
When pardoning the National Thanksgiving Turkey earlier in the day, Trump joked, "Unfortunately, I cannot guarantee your pardon will not be enjoined by the Ninth Circuit. Always happens."
U.S.
District Judge Jon S. Tigar, who was nominated by President Obama in
2012 to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California,
issued a temporary restraining order late Monday against Trump's plan
to refuse asylum to immigrants who cross the southern border illegally
if they do not arrive at a port of entry.
TRUMP SNUBS HARRIS, FEINSTEIN AND APPOINTS SEVERAL REPUBLICAN JUDGES TO NINTH CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS
"Whatever
the scope of the President's authority, he may not rewrite the
immigration laws to impose a condition that Congress has expressly
forbidden," Tigar wrote.
Trump took aim at Tigar in his comments
on Tuesday and predicted he would win an appeal in the case at the
Supreme Court, where conservatives command a narrow majority.
Republicans have argued that presidents have plenary authority over
immigration, and can close the southern border with Mexico for national
security reasons if they wanted.
"You cannot win, if you're us, a case in the Ninth Circuit."
— President Trump
"This
was an Obama judge, and I'll tell you what, it's not going to happen
like this anymore," Trump said. "Everybody that wants to sue the U.S. --
almost -- they file their case in the Ninth Circuit, and it means an
automatic loss. No matter what you do, no matter how good your case is.
And the Ninth Circuit is really something we have to take a look at,
because it's not fair."
He added: "People should not be allowed to
immediately run to this very friendly circuit and file their case. It's
a disgrace, in my opinion, what happens with the Ninth Circuit. We will
win that case in the Supreme Court of the United States."
Demonstrators with signs that read in Spanish: "No more Caravans",
and "Let's save Tijuana, no more caravans," stand under an statue of
indigenous Aztec ruler Cuauhtemoc to protest the presence of thousands
of Central American migrants in Tijuana, Mexico, on Sunday.
(AP)
During his confirmation hearings earlier this year, Associate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was asked
by Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy about the constitutionality
of individual federal judges issuing nationwide injunctions against
presidential action -- a phenomenon that has attracted scrutiny after
district court judges unilaterally brought temporary halts to Trump's
travel ban and other initiatives. Kavanaugh demurred, saying he could
not discuss potential pending issues before the Supreme Court. (Justice
Clarence Thomas had suggested taking action against the injunctions in a
dissent this year.)
Separately, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in October
that the 28 nationwide federal injunctions issued by individual
judges during the Trump administration so far constitute an
unprecedented "judicial encroachment."
WATCH: MIGRANT CARAVAN CLASHES WITH RESIDENTS OF TIJUANA
"It
is emphatically not the duty of the courts to manage the government or
to pass judgment on every policy action the Executive branch takes,"
Sessions said. "In the first 175 years of this Republic, not a single
judge issued one of these orders."
Trump's
new asylum policy was designed to prevent
many members of the Central American migrant caravans -- many of whom
have arrived at the U.S. border and clashed with locals in Mexican
border towns -- from illegally flooding into the U.S., and was intended
to instead direct them to legal crossings for expedited and orderly
asylum reviews.
Central American migrants, part of the Central American caravan
trying to reach the United States, continue their journey as they
prepare to leave Mexicali, Mexico, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018. Tensions have
built as nearly 3,000 migrants from the caravan poured into Tijuana in
recent days after more than a month on the road, and with many more
months likely ahead of them while they seek asylum in the U.S. (AP
Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
A joint statement by Homeland Security and the
Justice Department said the Supreme Court had already shown the
president had the legal right to restrict asylum.
"Our asylum
system is broken, and it is being abused by tens of thousands of
meritless claims every year," the departments said. "We look forward to
continuing to defend the Executive Branch's legitimate and well-reasoned
exercise of its authority to address the crisis at our southern
border."
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, speaking Tuesday at the border,
vowed to appeal the Ninth Circuit's ruling immediately. "Let me be
clear: this court from a chamber in San Francisco has replaced the
president’s judgment with regard to the fully delegated authority to
determine what is a true national security threat to our nation’s
sovereignty," Nielsen said, arguing that the ruling will "unequivocally
make the United States less secure."
"We will follow all laws and
judicial rulings, but we will also be appealing it as quickly as
possible," she added. "I have no doubt we will be successful."
Nielsen
added that DHS has confirmed that there are at least 500 criminals and
known gang members in the caravan, and that "most of the caravan
members" plan to make "frivolous" claims of asylum in the hopes of
disappearing while their claims are pending.
"Wanting a job is not
a basis for asylum under U.S. law," Nielsen said. "Wanting to be united
with your family is not a basis for asylum under U.S. law."
WATCH: TUCKER CARLSON DISCUSSES WHY MIGRANT CARAVAN IS RECEIVING A HOSTILE RECEPTION IN TIJUANA
The
legal standard for obtaining asylum in the U.S. is strict, and
ordinarily requires that people from foreign countries demonstrate they
face serious, legitimate risks of persecution by their government if
they remain in their homeland.
Not all forms of persecution are
relevant for asylum consideration. Under federal law, applicants must
demonstrate that their risk for persecution is based on their national
origin, race, religion, political views or membership in a particularly
vulnerable social class -- a category that was expanded in 2014, when
the Board of Immigration Appeals ruled that domestic abuse could form
the basis for an asylum claim. The Trump administration reversed that
expansion this year.
Around 3,000 people from the first of the
caravans have arrived in Tijuana, Mexico, across the border from San
Diego, California. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Monday that
it closed off northbound traffic for several hours at the San Ysidro
crossing to install movable, wire-topped barriers after reports that
some migrants were planning to rush through the lanes.
Central American migrants, part of the Central American caravan
trying to reach the United States, continue their journey as they leave
Mexicali, Mexico, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018. Tensions have built as nearly
3,000 migrants from the caravan poured into Tijuana in recent days after
more than a month on the road, and with many more months likely ahead
of them while they seek asylum in the U.S. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
As of Monday, the Department of Homeland
Security said it had referred 107 people to U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services — people who had sought asylum between official
crossings since Trump's order went into effect. Officials didn't say
whether those people's cases were still progressing through other, more
difficult avenues left to them after the proclamation.
MIGRANT CARAVAN JUST OUTSIDE U.S. IS HARBORING AT LEAST 500 CRIMINALS, DHS SAYS, AS CARAVAN CLASHES WITH MEXICAN LOCALS
More
than 500 criminals are traveling with the migrant caravan that’s massed
on the other side of a San Diego border crossing, homeland security
officials said Monday afternoon.
The asylum clause of the
Immigration and Nationality Act says that anyone who arrives to the U.S.
may apply for asylum based on a well-founded fear of persecution,
regardless of where they arrive. Tigar said Trump's policy flatly
contradicted that law passed by Congress.
Central American migrants look through the border structure
expecting top make an illegal crossing into the U.S., seen from the
Mexican side where the border meets the Pacific Ocean, Friday, Nov. 16,
2018. As thousands of migrants of asylum-seekers converge on the
doorstep of the United States, what they won't find are armed American
soldiers standing guard, that's because U.S. military troops are
prohibited from carrying out law enforcement duties. (AP Photo/Marco
Ugarte)
But the Executive Branch has considerable authority
in determining the scope of potential asylum claims. Earlier this year,
Sessions used his authority as head of asylum courts to rule
that domestic violence and gang-related attacks no longer necessarily
can form the basis of an asylum claim.
TRUMP DOJ SHARPLY LIMITS ASYLUM CLAIMS, SAYING SYSTEM IS OVERWHELMED WITH FRAUD
Declaring
that his decision "restores sound principles of asylum and
long-standing principles of immigration law," Sessions indicated that
the move would help reduce the backlog of asylum claims that has risen
sharply in recent years -- with many of the claims illegitimate.
"The
vast majority of the current asylum claims are not valid," Sessions
said in remarks this summer. "For the last five years, only 20 percent
of claims have been found to be meritorious after a hearing before an
immigration judge."
Sessions added that the system is simply overwhelmed with claims, and that bogus applications are crowding out legitimate ones.