A federal appeals court on Friday ruled President Donald Trump exceeded his authority by barring migrants who illegally cross the US-Mexico border from applying for asylum.
The US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld District Judge Randolph Moss’s 2025 decision, rejecting Trump’s proclamation that cut off asylum access for unauthorized border crossers. The case was brought by immigrant rights groups and asylum seekers.
“Congress did not intend to grant the Executive the expansive removal authority it asserts,” the three-judge panel wrote.
The court said the Immigration and Nationality Act gives anyone “physically present” in the United States the right to apply for asylum and have their case heard.
“If the Government wishes to modify this carefully structured and intricate system, it must present those arguments to the only branch of government able to amend the INA: Congress,” the ruling stated.
Moss had found last year that Trump’s ban violated the INA. Trump campaigned on promises to expel millions of undocumented migrants and tighten asylum rules at the southern border.
The ruling preserves the legal pathway for migrants to seek asylum after entering the US, regardless of how they crossed.
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