By Molly Claire Goddard
8:24am PDT, Jul 3, 2025
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Donald Trump's executive order stopping migrants who cross the border illegally from seeking asylum in the United States was shot down by a federal judge.
Washington, D.C., U.S. District Judge
Randolph Moss blocked the president's action in a Wednesday, July 2, ruling after immigrant rights groups sued the administration.
Keep reading to learn why the legal authority check Trump for overstepping his power…MORE:
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In Judge Randolph Moss' ruling — set to take effect on July 16 — he made clear that the Constitution nor federal immigration law "grants the President [Donald Trump] authority to replace the comprehensive rules and procedures set forth in the [Immigration and Nationality Act] and the governing regulations with an extra-statutory, extraregulatory regime for repatriating or removing individuals from the United States, without an opportunity to apply for asylum or withholding of removal."
While the legal authority noted how "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 of those who have entered the country," Moss emphasized that the right-wing leader does not have "unilateral authority to limit the rights of aliens present in the United States to apply for asylum" or to use the Constitution's Invasion Clause to "to adopt an alternative immigration system, which supplants the statutes that Congress has enacted."
Trump and his administration have two weeks to appeal the ruling.
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Following the ruling, Donald Trump's Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin expressed the administration's displeasure over the block.
"The President secured the border in historic fashion by using every available legal tool provided by Congress," she explained in a statement. "Today, a rogue district judge took those tools away, threatening the safety and security of Americans and ignoring a Supreme Court decision issued only days earlier admonishing district courts for granting nationwide injunctions."
"The Trump Administration is committed to restoring integrity to our immigration system and to our justice system and we expect a higher court to vindicate us," McLaughlin added.
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American Civil Liberties Union attorney Lee Gelernt applauded the legal action against Donald Trump and how it will keep people in "grave risk of persecution with no recourse" safe from harm.
"This is a hugely important decision," the lawyer said in a statement. "Not only will it save the lives of families fleeing grave danger, it reaffirms that the president cannot ignore the laws Congress has passed and the most basic premise of our country's separation of powers."
Senior Counsel at the ACLU of the District of Columbia Arthur Spitzer added, "Federal law unequivocally guarantees the right of refugees to seek asylum and the right not to be returned to face torture. President Trump's attempt to eliminate these life-or-death rights with the swipe of a pen and under false pretenses had no legal basis, as the court today made clear."
