A US federal judge on Wednesday blocked President Donald Trump’s bid to ban migrants who have illegally crossed the US-Mexico border from making asylum claims.
District Judge Randolph Moss, in a case brought by immigrant rights groups and asylum seekers, said Trump’s proclamation barring asylum requests exceeded his legal authority and is a violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
“Congress has crafted detailed rules and procedures that would be rendered meaningless if an agency were free to adopt its own rules and procedures in place of those that Congress enacted,” Moss said.
The judge said asylum applications are governed by the INA and the president cannot “adopt an alternative immigration system which supplants the statutes that Congress has enacted.”
Trump campaigned for president promising to expel millions of undocumented migrants from the United States, and he has taken a number of actions since returning to the White House in January aimed at speeding up deportations and reducing border crossings.
But his mass deportation efforts have been thwarted or stalled by numerous courts, including the Supreme Court, over concerns that migrant rights to due process are being ignored.
In his opinion, Moss said the court “recognizes that the Executive Branch faces enormous challenges in preventing and deterring unlawful entry into the United States and in adjudicating the overwhelming backlog of asylum claims.”
“But the INA, by its terms, provides the sole and exclusive means for removing people already present in the country,” the judge said.
Moss, an appointee of former president Barack Obama, put his ruling on hold for 14 days to give the Trump administration time to appeal.
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller condemned the judge’s decision.
“A marxist judge has declared that all potential FUTURE illegal aliens on foreign soil (eg a large portion of planet earth) are part of a protected global ‘class’ entitled to admission into the United States,” Miller said on X.
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