U.S. Judge Randolph Moss found that the Trump administration overstepped its authority and bypassed immigration law.
A federal judge on Wednesday ruled against a Trump administration policy that blocks foreign nationals who cross the U.S.-Mexico border from seeking asylum, coming as the White House has touted what it says are historically low border crossings in recent weeks.
In an order released Wednesday, U.S. Judge Randolph Moss found that the Trump administration overstepped its authority and bypassed immigration law.
“The President cannot adopt an alternative immigration system, which supplants the statutes that Congress has enacted,” Moss wrote in the order.
Soon after taking office in January, Trump declared that an invasion exists along the U.S.–Mexico border and that individuals who are seeking to cross are “engaged in the invasion” along the border.
“Many of these aliens unlawfully within the United States present significant threats to national security and public safety, committing vile and heinous acts against innocent Americans,” the Jan. 20 proclamation said.
Some of these individuals are also “engaged in hostile activities, including espionage, economic espionage, and preparations for terror-related activities,” the proclamation stated. “Many have abused the generosity of the American people, and their presence in the United States has cost taxpayers billions of dollars at the Federal, State, and local levels.”
The American Civil Liberties Union and several other groups in February sought to challenge Trump’s asylum ban in February, arguing it violated U.S. laws and international treaties.
Moss ruled that the Immigration and Nationality Act nor the Constitution allow the president and administration officials to have “sweeping authority” that was claimed in the Jan. 20 invasion proclamation.
In the order, the judge added that the court notes “that the judiciary should not lightly intervene in the affairs of the Executive Branch and that implementing the immigration laws presents supreme challenges, the Court is unpersuaded that requiring Defendants to return to the processes that Congress required and that applied just a few months ago would cause Defendants irreparable harm.”
“Although enjoining the President from exercising an exclusive constitutional prerogative might, standing alone, give rise to irreparable injury, requiring the Agency Defendants to comply with the law as Congress enacted pursuant” to its power over immigration laws, Moss said.
Since taking office, Trump has made border security a priority and has sought to deport significant numbers of illegal immigrants, although portions of his agenda have faced some legal setbacks.
The judge said he would stay the effective date of his order for 14 days to allow the Trump administration to appeal.
Moss’s decision was criticized by Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller in a post on social media platform X soon after it was handed down. Miller said the order is an attempt to supersede last week’s Supreme Court a ruling on nationwide injunctions in a separate case.
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. https://t.co/IWWd2nddVC
— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) July 2, 2025
