Federal Judge Strikes Down Trump's Asylum Ban at U.S.-Mexico Border
In a 128-page takedown, Judge Randolph Moss rules Trump’s border shutdown unlawful, reaffirming that presidents can’t rewrite immigration law by fiat.
WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Wednesday struck down the Trump administration’s proclamation suspending asylum access at the U.S.-Mexico border, declaring the policy unlawful and a violation of federal immigration statutes.
In his 128-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Randolph D. Moss wrote, “The President cannot adopt an alternative immigration system, which supplants the statutes that Congress has enacted.”
The ruling comes nearly six months after President Donald Trump issued the proclamation on January 20, his first day back in office. It effectively shut down all avenues for migrants to seek asylum at the southern border, prompting immediate legal challenges from advocacy groups.
“This is a flat-out ban on all asylum,” said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project. “This is way beyond anything that even President Trump has tried in the past.”
The lawsuit was brought by the ACLU, the National Immigrant Justice Center, the Center for Gender & Refugee Studi…