WIN WIN FOR TRUMP AS FEDERAL COURT RULES TO SEND BACK ASYLUM SEEKERS BACK TO MEXICO

WALL STREET JOURNAL – A federal appeal court on Tuesday ruled that the Trump administration can for now continue returning Central American migrants to Mexico while their requests for asylum in the U.S. are adjudicated, a boost for White House efforts to tighten the southern border.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit cited different reasons for permitting the “remain in Mexico” initiative to move forward after a lower court blocked it last month. The appeals court allowed the policy to continue only on a temporary basis, while the court considers broader issues in the case.

Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain [an appointee of former President Ronald Reagan], Judge William Fletcher [a Clinton appointee] and Judges Paul J. Watford [an Obama appointee] are the three judges making up the “three-judge panel.”

The latest ruling keeps “remain in Mexico” in effect while the case continues before the appeals court. Former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen first announced the measure in late December saying “Aliens trying to game the system to get into our country illegally will no longer be able to disappear into the United States,” Nielsen said in a written statement at the time.