“Asylum-Seekers Get Attorney Access Before Return to Mexico,” The Associated Press

SAN DIEGO — A federal judge has ruled that a Guatemalan family seeking asylum in the United States must be granted attorney access before being forced to wait in Mexico as their case winds through U.S. immigration court. District Judge Dana Sabraw’s temporary restraining order may have far-reaching consequences if applied more widely to a key Trump administration policy to address a surge of asylum-seekers arriving at the U.S. border with Mexico. The judge scheduled a hearing Dec. 13 on whether the ruling should apply to all asylum-seekers returned to Mexico through California to wait for their next court appearance. The U.S. Homeland Security Department sent back more than 55,000 people through California and Texas to wait in Mexico in the nine months after the policy was introduced in January. Last month, it published a report that called the policy “an indispensable tool in addressing the ongoing crisis at the southern border and restoring integrity to the immigration system.”