Stephen Miller's Border Blueprint Gets Shredded in Federal Court
A D.C. Circuit panel rules Trump’s asylum ban is unlawful, dealing a major blow to the administration’s most aggressive immigration gambit.
WASHINGTON — The legal scaffolding Stephen Miller spent years engineering around the southern border took a significant hit Thursday when a federal appeals court ruled that President Trump’s Inauguration Day proclamation effectively shutting down asylum was unlawful — and ordered the government to stop using it.
The ruling from a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is one of the most consequential rebukes to Miller’s immigration strategy since Trump returned to power, striking at the heart of a legal theory the administration has used to justify some of its most aggressive border enforcement moves.
“The president cannot unilaterally eliminate the right to seek asylum by executive order,” ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt, who argued the appeal, said after the ruling. He added the decision could “potentially save the lives of thousands of people fleeing grave danger.”
What Miller Built — and What the Court Just Dismantled
On Inauguration Day 2025, Trump signed a pre…