Arizona Delegates Respond To Asylum Appeals Court Ruling

By Matt Kling
Published: Monday, May 13, 2019 - 10:46am

Asylum seekers wait their turn to cross into the U.S. from Nogales
Michel Marizco/KJZZ
Asylum seekers wait their turn to cross into the U.S. from Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, and speak with a Customs and Border Protection interviewer.

Members of Arizona’s congressional delegation are reacting to a federal appeals court ruling that asylum seekers at the southern border can be held in Mexico while their cases are considered.

Democratic Congressman Tom O’Halleran suggested these cases should be handled domestically.

“We need more judges on our side of the border," O'Halleran said. "We have 800,000+ cases of asylum, and that needs to be resolved. If we’re going to keep people, they need to be maintained in appropriate facilities.”

Meanwhile, Republican Congressman Paul Gosar is applauding this ruling.

“This is an epidemic," Gosar said. "When you got hundreds of thousands of people going over the border, this is wrong.”

A lower court in San Francisco must still rule on the merits of the case, which could end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.