A federal judge in Washington, DC, blocked on Wednesday the Trump administration policy that restricts migrants who cross the southern border of seeking asylum.
In an order of 128 pages, the American district judge Randolph Moss wrote that President Donald Trump cannot “adopt an alternative immigration system,” saying that Trump has exceeded his legal authority as president.
In an executive order issued in January, Trump declared that the situation on the southern border constitutes “an invasion of America” and suspended the ability of migrants to seek asylum.
The Supreme Court, in a ruling last week, limited the power of the judges to block the president’s executive orders nationwide. But in his order on Wednesday, Judge Moss concluded that “this is one of the rare cases in which a precautionary relief is required.”
Judge Moss said that he acknowledges that although the executive branch “faces huge challenges to prevent and deter illegal entry” in the United States, neither the Constitution nor the Immigration and Nationality Law “provides the President of the Unilateral Authority to limit the rights of foreigners present in the United States to request asylum.”
Migrants prepare to be transported by border patrol agents after crossing the border between the United States and Mexico, on January 20, 2025, near Sasabe, Ariz.
John Moore/Getty Images
The federal judge granted the application for the plaintiffs to certify a class of all the persons covered by Trump’s executive order, and maintained his decision for 14 days to allow the Trump Administration to appeal and “prepare to implement the order of the court.”
In response to the ruling, Lee Gelernt, an ACLU lawyer, told ABC News that “the importance of the decision cannot be exaggerated.”
“The ruling is essential for those who flee from horrible danger and reaffirm that the president in our government system cannot simply give the background to the laws approved by Congress,” said Gelernt.
