CBP Head Welcomes 'Big Victory' on Asylum Restrictions

Acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan said Thursday that the administration scored “a big victory” with the Supreme Court’s decision on asylum restrictions.

The court ruled late Wednesday that the policy of denying asylum to migrants who passed through another country to get to the U.S. may remain in place, ending injunctions that had blocked it.

“If [asylum seekers] have a valid claim, they should be seeking help and asylum from the first country they come in contact with,” Morgan said on “Fox & Friends.”

“They shouldn’t be paying the cartels thousands of dollars and risking their lives to take a thousand-mile journey across several countries to get help,” he said.

“What that means [is] while that’s going on, we can fully implement this rule along the entire southwest border to hit this crisis,” Morgan said, adding that the administration is “doing everything they can” and “utilizing every tool in the toolbox within the current legal framework to stop this crisis, while Congress sits on their hands and fails to do what they know they need to do to end this crisis.”

• Circuit Court Reverses Asylum Policy Nationwide Ban
• CBP's Mark Morgan: Frustrated by Judge Ruling Blocking Asylum Ban