A federal judge on Wednesday blocked President Donald Trump’s asylum ban at the U.S.-Mexico border, saying Trump exceeded his authority when he issued a proclamation declaring illegal immigration an emergency and setting aside existing legal processes.
U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss said in a 128-page opinion that Trump’s January 20 proclamation blocking all migrants “engaged in the invasion across the southern border” from claiming asylum or other humanitarian protections went beyond his executive power.
The ruling is a setback for Trump, a Republican who recaptured the White House promising a vast immigration crackdown. Since Trump took office, the number of migrants caught crossing illegally has plummeted to record lows.
The American Civil Liberties Union brought the challenge to Trump’s asylum ban in February on behalf of three advocacy groups and migrants denied access to asylum, arguing the broad ban violated U.S. laws and international treaties.
Trump’s border restrictions went beyond a similar ban put in place by former President Joe Biden, a Democrat, in 2024. Key parts of the Biden ban were blocked by a separate federal judge in May in a lawsuit also led by the ACLU.
Moss said he would stay the effective date of a related order for 14 days to allow the Trump administration to appeal.
The decision applies to migrants who were subject to Trump’s ban or could be in the future, part of a certified class in the litigation. Such class certifications remain unaffected by last week’s Supreme Court decision reining in nationwide injunctions.
Moss ruled that neither federal immigration law nor the U.S. Constitution gave Trump the authority to disregard existing laws and regulations governing the asylum process even if stopping illegal immigration presented “enormous challenges.”
“Nothing in the [Immigration and Nationality Act] or the Constitution grants the President or his delegees the sweeping authority asserted in the Proclamation and implementing guidance,” wrote Moss, an appointee of former President Barack Obama. “An appeal to necessity cannot fill that void.”
The Trump administration has clashed with federal judges since Trump returned to office, particularly those ruling against his hardline immigration policies.
In a statement, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said Moss did not have the authority to constrain Trump’s actions to combat illegal immigration and that the administration would appeal.
“A local district court judge has no authority to stop President Trump and the United States from securing our border from the flood of aliens trying to enter illegally,” Jackson said. “We expect to be vindicated on appeal.”
The U.S. judiciary is one of three co-equal branches of government that include the executive and legislative branches, but Trump has tested that system of checks and balances.
Lee Gelernt, a lead ACLU attorney working on the lawsuit, said the ruling would help ensure protections for migrants fleeing danger.
“The president cannot wipe away laws passed by Congress simply by claiming that asylum seekers are invaders,” Gelernt said.
(Reporting by Ted Hesson; )
