Dec. 27 (UPI) — A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Thursday denied the Trump administration’s request to delay deadlines in a case over an asylum ban due to the government shutdown.
Judge Randolph Moss said that because the six plaintiffs in the case view it as a matter of human safety, he will not stay the deadlines until the government is fully reopened.
The case is one of several the Justice Department sought to have delayed Wednesday amid the government’s partial shutdown over a dispute about funding for a border wall. The Justice Department sought the delay because department attorneys and employees can’t work during the shutdown.
The plaintiffs, six non-citizens seeking asylum in the United States, sued the administration after President Donald Trump instituted a new policy barring asylum to anyone who enters the country illegally. Instead, they have to request asylum at a designated port of entry.
In a separate lawsuit in California, a federal judge blocked the asylum ban, a move upheld by an appeals court.
The federal government was partially shut down starting at midnight Friday after Trump refused to sign a stopgap spending bill passed by Congress because it didn’t include the $5 billion he requested to build a border wall. The House later passed another bill with the border wall funding, but the Senate has yet to come to an agreement on similar legislation.
Thursday was the sixth full day of the shutdown.
“Have the Democrats finally realized that we desperately need Border Security and a Wall on the Southern Border. Need to stop Drugs, Human Trafficking,Gang Members & Criminals from coming into our Country. Do the Dems realize that most of the people not getting paid are Democrats?” Trump said on Twitter earlier Thursday.
The House and Senate were expected to convene Thursday for the first time since leaving Washington, D.C., for the holiday break. If an agreement isn’t reached before the end of December, Republicans will lose much of their leverage in the negotiations because Democrats gain control of the House in January.
