REPUBLICANS ARE NOT rIGHT:

A bipartisan group of representatives in Congress voted on Wednesday to block part of the Trump administration's latest attack on migrants entering the country as asylum-seekers. Last month, Attorney General Jeff Sessions used his control over America's immigration court system to rule that people fleeing domestic and gang violence will rarely be eligible for asylum. On Wednesday afternoon, the House appropriations committee voted across party lines to block the Department of Homeland Security from using any funds to implement Sessions' decision, which is known as "Matter of A-B-." [...]

"It's a rebuke from the Congress to the attorney general for his interpretation set forth in Matter of A-B-," says Gregory Chen, the director of government relations for the American Immigration Lawyers Association,  a group that represents more than 15,000 attorneys and law professors. "And that is a significant step to recognize, even if it's just at the committee level."

Rep. David Price (D-N.C.), who introduced the amendment, said on Wednesday that there was "no doubt" that Sessions' decision "diminishes the already limited likelihood" that people fleeing gang and domestic violence will receive protection in the United States. "We're not going to let this draconian directive stand," he said.

Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-Kansas) joined Rep. David Price in supporting the measure. "As the son of a social worker, I have great compassion for those victims of domestic violence anywhere," he said, "especially as it concerns those nations that turn a blind eye to the crimes of domestic violence." Yoder cited his vote for the Violence Against Women Act as one of the reasons why he was backing the measure. (In 2013, Sessions was one of 22 Republican senators who voted against reauthorizing that law.)

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