Migrant caravan: Judge halts Trump's asylum ban

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A federal judge on Monday put a temporary halt to a Trump administration order refusing asylum to people who cross the southern border illegally.

U.S. President Donald Trump issued the proclamation earlier this month as a U.S.-bound caravan of Central American migrants made its way through Mexico toward the U.S. border.

U.S. district judge Jon Tigar in San Francisco issued a temporary restraining order against the Trump proclamation, thus granting a request from human rights advocacy groups which had sued shortly after the order was announced.

Migrants from Central America trying to reach the U.S. wait to receive food in a temporary shelter in Tijuana, Mexico, November 18, 2018. /VCG Photo

Under the proclamation, Trump said only people who enter the U.S. at official checkpoints, as opposed to sneaking across the border, can apply for asylum.

The judge's restraining order remains in effect until the court decides on the case.

The American Civil Liberties Union said that U.S. law stipulates that the right to request asylum must be granted to anyone entering the country, regardless of whether they do so at an official port of entry or come in illegally.

The Department of Homeland Security estimates around 70,000 people a year claim asylum between official ports of entry.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers check the IDs of pedestrians crossing into the U.S. after reopening the San Ysidro Port of Entry, November 19, 2018. /VCG Photo

Trump has argued that the recent caravans, which he has characterized as an invasion, are a threat to national security.

Around 3,000 people from the first of the caravans have arrived in Tijuana, Mexico, across the border from San Diego, California.

U.S. authorities on Monday briefly closed the San Ysidro crossing while new barricades went up on both sides of a bustling U.S.-Mexico border.

(Top image: A caravan migrant is seen in a temporary shelter in Tijuana, Mexico, November 19, 2018. /VCG Photo)

(With inputs from AFP)