Trump Weighing Asylum Shutdown That Would Close Southern Border To Migrants

As fear, anxiety and paranoia descend on members of the migrant caravan following a rash of deaths, inspiring many to turn back or accept rides from Mexican law enforcement back to the local immigration-processing facilities, President Trump is reportedly weighing an executive action that would suspend migrants' ability to seek asylum in the US, virtually guaranteeing that any migrants who cross the US's southern border would be immediately arrested and deported.

If Trump follows through with the plan, according to Politico, he would invoke his authority under Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, the same authority that allowed him to pursue the immigration ban that was upheld by the Supreme Court back in June, to temporarily suspend migrants ability to seek asylum, because, per the Washington Post, it "would be contrary to the national interest" and "detrimental to the interests of the United States."

However, several anonymous administration officials told WaPo that invoking this power - a decision that would almost certainly be blocked by a federal court (likely the same San Francisco district court that blocked multiple iterations of the Trump travel ban) - is "one of several" options under consideration. Though, as Fox News points out, a Supreme Court ruling earlier this summer affirmed the president’s right to bar the entry of migrants who "would be detrimental to the interests of the United States."

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