Trump administration to resume asylum processing to comply with court order
Washington DC - President Donald Trump's administration announced on Friday that they will soon resume processing asylum and other immigration applications to comply with a court order.
The news came after District Judge John McConnell ruled earlier this month that the freeze on all asylum applications for nationals of 39 countries was unlawful. The Trump claimed the move, announced in December, was in response to a shooting in Washington DC by an Afghan immigrant.
In a news alert shared on Friday, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services announced their compliance "effective immediately," but noted the agency "strongly disagrees" with the order.
According to The Washington Post, the Department of Justice appealed Judge McConnell's ruling on Friday in the US Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit.
Since returning to office, Trump has led an aggressive anti-immigration agenda, sending federal agents to Democratic-run cities to perform deportation sweeps.
His efforts have been repeatedly slapped down as unconstitutional in courts across the country from judges appointed by himself and former Democratic presidents.
In a statement, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson blamed "the left" for using courts to stand in the way of Trump's agenda.
"It is sabotage dressed in legal clothing," the spokesperson added. "They have used it on virtually every Trump-era Department of Homeland Security policy."
Cover photo: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP