Judge halts Trump’s asylum ban

WASHINGTON, Nov 20 (Agencies): A US federal judge has blocked an order issued by President Trump to deny asylum to migrants crossing the southern US border illegally.

US District Judge Jon Tigar in San Francisco issued the temporary restraining order after hearing arguments by civil rights groups.

Mr Trump signed the order earlier this month in response to the migrant caravan moving towards the border.

He cited national interest concerns but was opposed by civil rights groups.

Thousands of migrants from across Central America have been travelling north for weeks towards the US-Mexico border.

They say they are fleeing persecution, poverty and violence in their home countries of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.

In the run-up to the US mid-term elections, President Trump said many of the migrants were criminals, called the caravan an invasion, and ordered troops to the border. He also repeatedly suggested it was politically motivated.

Judge Tigar, in his ruling, said current legislation made it clear that any foreigner arriving in the US "whether or not at a designated port of arrival" could apply for asylum.

He said Mr Trump's proclamation on November 09 was an "extreme departure" from prior practice.

"Whatever the scope of the president's authority, he may not rewrite the immigration laws to impose a condition that Congress has expressly forbidden," Judge Tigar added.

He was responding in a case brought by The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Center for Constitutional Rights.

Meanwhile, huge metal or concrete barricades and walls of concertina wire went up Monday on both sides of a bustling US-Mexico border crossing as a caravan of US-bound Central American migrants pours into Tijuana, the last stop before California.

US authorities went so far as to briefly close the San Ysidro Port of Entry altogether - it is one of the busiest land border crossings in the world - as the new barriers were set up, triggering total gridlock for vehicles and pedestrians going from Tijuana across into San Diego.

"It was as if time stopped. Nothing is moving. Neither cars, nor people, nor my business," said Armando Lopez, who sells newspapers, cigarettes and candy on the Mexican side.

US Customs and Border Protection "suspended operations to safely place impediments at the port of entry that would restrict access to a large group attempting to run through the border crossing," the agency said in a statement, referring to the migrant caravan.