A U.S. federal judge has blocked the implementation of an order issued by President Donald Trump aimed at preventing individuals who entered illegally across the Mexican border from applying for asylum.
Trump announced the ban on January 20, his first day in office, claiming that the situation at the southern border constitutes an “invasion” due to the influx of people seeking to enter the United States.
However, a federal judge in Washington stated on Wednesday that “there is nothing in the Immigration and Nationality Act or the Constitution that grants the president or his representatives the excessive powers mentioned in the order and directives regarding its implementation.”
This ruling came after 13 individuals, who said they fled persecution from Afghanistan, Ecuador, Cuba, Egypt, Brazil, Turkey, and Peru, turned to the courts. Three organizations advocating for migrant rights also challenged the decision.
The judge clarified that six of these individuals had been deported under Trump’s order.
In his ruling, the judge acknowledged that the executive branch faces significant challenges in preventing unlawful entry into the United States and addressing the enormous backlog of pending asylum requests, but asserted that only the Immigration and Nationality Act governs deportation procedures.
He postponed the implementation of his ruling for two weeks to give the Trump administration time to appeal, specifying that it applies only to individuals who had not yet been deported.
Trump has made combating unlawful immigration a top priority, claiming that the United States is experiencing an “invasion” by “foreign criminals,” and vowed to expedite the deportation of migrants; however, the mass deportation program he initiated has slowed due to various court rulings.
