President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally, Nov. 4, 2018, in Macon, Ga.Saying that the president has the power to change the rules "if he determines it to be in the national interest," new Acting Attorney General Mathew Whitaker and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen announced that the suspension of the current would mean that "any aliens who contravene a presidential suspension ... will be rendered ineligible for asylum."
The announcement said the president had the authority to impose "any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate."
"Our asylum system is overwhelmed with too many meritless asylum claims from aliens who place a tremendous burden on our resources, preventing us from being able to expeditiously grant asylum to those who truly deserve it," Whitaker said.
"U.S. law specifically allows individuals to apply for asylum whether or not they are at a port of entry. It is illegal to circumvent that by agency or presidential decree," Omar Jadwat, director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, responded in in a statement.
(MORE: Central American migrants in caravan respond to President Trump calling them criminals: 'This is all propaganda') On a call with reporters Thursday, senior administration officials emphasized that point, claiming that it would mean asylum claims will be handled more efficiently.
When asked whether the goal of funneling people to the ports of entry was aimed at reducing the number of people who claim asylum, given the slow process and legal backlog, a senior official said "the intention is to be able to more quickly arrive at a determination for those who have legit claims" adding that they are working on "staffing models to ensure that we can handle the claims we will be seeing. "
Officials would not offer any other specifics on the proclamation that Trump is expected to sign Friday.
ABC News' Lauren Pearle contributed to this report.
Kaynak:Abcnews