Trump administration to withhold bail from asylum seekers News
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Trump administration to withhold bail from asylum seekers

The Trump administration ruled on Tuesday that asylum seekers are ineligible from posting bail while they wait the months or years for their cases to be heard.

Attorney General William Barr’s decision explains that Section 212(d)(5)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) provides that any “alien” applying for admission may be paroled into the US for “urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.” However, even if an asylum seeker establishes a “credible fear of persecution or torture,” but fails to meet an urgency requirement or public benefit, they will be ineligible to post bond and held until their case is decided.

The order has been heavily scrutinized by rights advocates who said it will jail people who are simply looking for safety. Omar Jadwat, Director of the American Civil Liberties Union Immigrants’ Rights Project, tweeted,”unless stopped, this decision will result in the unlawful jailing of thousands of people who should not be behind bars.”

Barr’s decision to withhold bail from asylum seekers aligns with Trump’s immigration policy. In February rights groups challenged the Trump administration’s order requiring “Central American migrants to return to Mexico to wait for their asylum requests to be processed.

The order will go into effect in 90 days.

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