CGRS Comment on Temporary Stay in Challenge to Forced Return Policy

On Friday night the Ninth Circuit granted the Trump Administration’s request for a temporary stay of a ruling it had issued earlier that day in Innovation Law Lab v. Wolf. The ruling had restored the district court injunction blocking the government’s policy of forcibly returning asylum seekers to await their immigration hearings in Mexico, where they have faced appalling abuses.

The Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS), American Civil Liberties Union, and Southern Poverty Law Center brought the Innovation Law Lab lawsuit when the Administration launched the policy last year. CGRS Director Karen Musalo had this to say about the Ninth Circuit’s latest decision in the case:

“Although the government has been granted a temporary green light to continue its forced return policy, multiple courts have now ruled that it is unlawful and likely to violate our nation’s international refugee commitments. CGRS will continue fighting to end this cruel policy once and for all. Each day that it remains in place, the lives of asylum seekers are put at grave risk.”