A federal judge on Wednesday blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order that sought to prevent migrants crossing the border from seeking asylum or applying for withholding of removal in the U.S., a major blow to Trump as he looks to further enforce his broad immigration crackdown.
U.S. District Judge Randolph Daniel Moss, an Obama appointee, said Wednesday that Trump’s Jan. 20 proclamation, which sought to block all migrants “engaged in the invasion across the southern border” from claiming asylum or seeking withholding of removal, exceeds his authority — siding with the ACLU, who brought the suit on behalf of several migrants groups and 13 asylum-seekers earlier this year.
The group urged the court in February to block Trump’s proclamation from taking force, arguing that the action was “as unlawful as it is unprecedented.”
Moss said Wednesday that Trump “lacks the inherent constitutional authority” to supplant federal statutes governing removals.
JUDGES V TRUMP: HERE ARE THE KEY COURT BATTLES HALTING THE WHITE HOUSE AGENDA
President Donald Trump holds up an executive order after signing it during an indoor inauguration parade at Capital One Arena on Jan. 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“To hold otherwise would render much, if not most, of the INA simply optional,” he added in the 128-page opinion.
Moss also stayed the order for a 14-day period to allow the Trump administration to seek emergency relief and appeal the case to a higher court.
The judge also granted plaintiffs’ request to certify a class of migrants who would were either subject to Trump’s proclamation heard by the court or would be subject to it in the future.
The class certification also allows the lawsuit to proceed under the new limitations set forth by the Supreme Court last week in Trump v. CASA. That ruling limited the scope of injunctive relief that lower courts can provide to plaintiffs, except in certain cases, including challenges brought by a certified class.
Moss said Wednesday that neither the U.S. Constitution nor the Immigration and Nationality Act give Trump “the sweeping authority asserted in the proclamation and implementing guidance,” Moss said, adding: “An appeal to necessity cannot fill that void.”
JUDGES V TRUMP: HERE ARE THE KEY COURT BATTLES HALTING THE WHITE HOUSE AGENDA
A split photo of president Donald Trump and protesters demonstrating against Trump’s immigration policies. (Getty Images)
Moss stayed the order for a 14-day period to allow the Trump administration to seek emergency relief and appeal the case to a higher court.
The decision was blasted by Trump adviser Stephen Miller, who described Moss as a “marxist” judge in a post on X.
“To try to circumvent the Supreme Court ruling on nationwide injunctions 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.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller speaks during a press briefing at the White House, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
The news comes as Trump has sought to prioritize hard-line immigration policies in his second presidential term. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments earlier this year over another order Trump signed, which seeks to end birthright citizenship in the U.S.
The administration has also cracked down on deportations, invoking a 1798 wartime immigration law to more quickly send hundreds of migrants to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador earlier this year.
