By Kate Morrissey

The San Diego Union-Tribune

A Northern California judge on Monday blocked another Trump administration immigration policy, one that required some asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for immigration court hearings in the United States.

The program, officially called Migrant Protection Protocols and known widely as “Remain in Mexico,” began in late January and has returned hundreds of Central American asylum seekers to Mexico. It was implemented as a “historic” response to what the Trump administration has repeatedly called a “crisis” at the southwest border.

Implementation began with a pilot program at the San Ysidro Port of Entry in San Diego and later expanded. To date, more than 700 people, including families, have been returned to Tijuana, and nearly 200 more to Mexicali, according to a Mexican immigration official.

The judge found that it was likely that the plaintiffs —a group of 11 asylum-seekers and several advocacy organizations —would be able to prove their claims that the law used to implement the program does not apply to them and that even if it does, the program’s implementation does not offer enough protection to those selected for return.

Judge Richard Seeborg’s order halting the program will go into effect Friday. The U.S. is also required to allow named plaintiffs of the lawsuit to enter the country within two days.

The order clarifies that federal immigration officials still have the power to decide whether to detain or release those asylum-seekers when they come back to the U.S.

It also does not require federal immigration officials to allow entry to returnees who are not named in the lawsuit.