Trump signs order limiting migrant asylum at U.S.-Mexico border

WASHINGTON - 10 November 2018: President Donald Trump on Friday signed a proclamation that effectively will suspend the granting of asylum to migrants who cross the U.S. border with Mexico illegally for up to 90 days.

The order, which goes into effect on Saturday, means that migrants will have to present themselves at U.S. ports of entry to qualify for asylum. Immigrant advocates say the administration has deliberately slowed the processing of migrants at official ports, forcing them to wait for days or weeks to request protection.

“I just signed the proclamation on asylum - very important,” Trump told reporters on Friday before leaving for Paris. “People can come in but they have to come in through the points of entry.”

The order followed other regulations on migrants released by the administration on Thursday.

The Trump administration lost a legal battle on Thursday, when a federal appeals court in California ruled that it must continue a program begun under former President Barack Obama that protects hundreds of thousands of immigrants who were brought into the country illegally as children, known as Dreamers.

Trump said the ruling on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was good news because now the administration can appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“The DACA will now hopefully go to the Supreme Court where it will be given a fair decision,” Trump said.