The justices argued that President Trump’s order requiring expedited removals at the border ignored federal law that “recognizes” the right to seek asylum.
Published April 24, 2026
An appeals court has ruled that President Donald Trump’s ban on asylum seekers in the United States is illegal, marking a setback to the administration’s immigration crackdown.
In a ruling released Friday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., found that current law, the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), gives people the right to apply for asylum at the border.
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President Trump issued a proclamation banning asylum on January 20, 2025, the first day of his second term.
But the appeals court questioned whether a unilateral suspension of asylum was within the president’s authority.
“Congress did not intend to give the executive branch the broad removal powers it claimed,” the ruling said.
“Accordingly, this proclamation and guidance are unlawful to the extent that they circumvent the INA’s removal process and ignore federal law that provides individuals with the right to seek asylum or have their deportation protections considered.”
This judgment justified the lower court’s decision. The judges blocked President Trump’s order, but it is unclear what immediate impact it will have. The White House has already indicated plans to appeal.
President Trump has made immigration a mainstay of his 2024 re-election campaign, promising to repel what he calls an “invasion” of immigrants by closing the US southern border.
Asylum in the United States is granted to people facing “persecution based on race, religion, national origin, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.” Such protection is recognized as a fundamental human right under international law.
But under President Joe Biden’s administration, which has imposed asylum restrictions, unauthorized border crossings have reached record levels.
Millions of immigrants, many of whom have suffered gang violence and political persecution in Latin America, apply for asylum upon arrival in the United States.
Nearly 945,000 people applied for asylum in 2023, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
In a January 2025 executive order, President Trump halted the “physical entry of aliens who have crossed the southern border and engaged in an invasion of the United States.”
The declaration, like other actions in President Trump’s immigration crackdown, was quickly challenged in court.
However, a panel of the Court of Appeals concluded that the INA did not authorize the president to remove plaintiffs based on a “self-determined procedure.”
It also does not authorize suspending plaintiffs’ right to apply for asylum or shortening the process for adjudicating claims of torture or persecution.
“The proclamation’s authority to temporarily suspend the admission of certain aliens to the United States does not include the implied authority to override the INA’s enforcement procedures for immediate expulsion of aliens,” wrote Judge J. Michelle Childs, a Biden appointee.
The Trump administration will likely appeal the ruling and then to the Supreme Court.
In response to the court’s ruling, the White House emphasized that banning asylum is part of President Trump’s constitutional authority as commander in chief.
“There are liberal judges across the country who are acting against the president for political purposes. They are not acting as true litigators of law. They are looking at these cases through a political lens,” White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt told reporters.
