News & Events

On December 5, Simpson Thacher filed an amicus brief on behalf of 23 nonprofit organizations that represent asylum seekers, including Latino Justice, the Central American Refugee Center, International Refugee Assistance Project, Legal Aid Society of New York and Make the Road New York, challenging recent decisions by the White House and the Department of Justice that would bar individuals who enter the United States outside of designated ports of entry from eligibility for asylum.

In East Bay Sanctuary Covenant v. Donald Trump, Case No. 3:18-cv-06180 (N.D. Cal.), Plaintiffs seek a preliminary injunction barring implementation of the Department of Justice’s Interim Final Rule “Aliens Subject to a Bar on Entry under Certain Presidential Proclamations; Procedures for Protection Claims” (the “Rule”) and the Presidential Proclamation Addressing Mass Migration Through the Southern Border of the United States (the “Proclamation”). Through their amicus brief in support of the preliminary injunction, amici urged that Defendants’ asserted justifications for the Rule and Proclamation—a “surge” in mass migration, coupled with the notion that would-be asylum seekers present a danger to U.S. security—have no basis in fact and are clearly disproven by the government’s own statistics. Rather, the Administration’s repeated public statements reveal that the true reason for the Rule and Proclamation is Defendants’ hostility toward immigrant groups and the asylum process in general. Amici further emphasized that the clear text of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which provides that a noncitizen physically present in the U.S. or who arrives at the U.S. border “whether or not at a designated port of arrival” may apply for asylum, clearly prohibits the Proclamation and the Rule. At bottom, amici urged the court to recognize that the Rule and Proclamation violate the unambiguous language of U.S. asylum law, and the principles for which the law stands, in addition to victimizing already vulnerable immigrant communities.

The Simpson Thacher team includes Buzz Frahn, Sara Clingan and Tyler Perry.