Washington, April 18 (RHC)-- U.S. Attorney General William Barr has issued an order that could keep thousands of asylum seekers locked up indefinitely.  The order, a reversal of existing policy, would affect asylum seekers who enter into the country in between legal ports of entry, by barring immigration judges from granting bonds for their release.

Asylum seekers who enter the U.S. at official ports of entry are already unable to be released on bond.  The order is set to go into effect in 90 days.  Omar Jadwat of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project said in a statement: “This is the Trump administration’s latest assault on people fleeing persecution and seeking refuge in the United States.  Our Constitution does not allow the government to lock up asylum seekers without basic due process.  We’ll see the administration in court.”Apr 17, 2019

In more immigration news, the Trump administration is resuming its so-called Remain in Mexico policy, after an appeals court stayed a lower court ruling that had blocked the controversial practice.  The policy forces asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their cases make their way through U.S. courts, which legal experts and rights groups say is illegal.  Over 1,100 migrants who entered the country via the southern border have been sent back to Mexico to wait out their court cases since the policy started.