A U.S. judge in San Francisco will scrutinize the Trump administration's policy of returning asylum seekers to Mexico during a court hearing Friday to help him decide whether to block the practice. Civil rights groups have asked Judge Richard Seeborg in San Francisco to put the asylum policy on hold while their lawsuit moves forward. Families seeking asylum are typically released in the U.S. with notices to appear in immigration court. The Trump administration hopes that making asylum seekers wait in Mexico will discourage weak claims and help reduce an immigration court backlog of more than 800,000 cases. The civil rights groups said that law does not apply to asylum seekers who cross the border illegally or arrive at an entry port without proper documents.

Source: ABC News March 22, 2019 05:15 UTC