Trump admin suffers another blow to deportation blitz as judge rejects key component

The Trump administration suffered another blow to its mass deportation policy on Friday after a federal court rejected its attempt to unilaterally deny migrants seeking asylum entrance to the United States.

Citing the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), judges presiding over the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that the Trump administration’s efforts to reject asylum seekers were at odds with the longstanding law.

“We conclude that the INA’s text, structure, and history make clear that in supplying power to suspend entry by Presidential proclamation, Congress did not intend to grant the Executive the expansive removal authority it asserts,” the judges wrote, as flagged by Politico legal affairs reporter Kyle Cheney.

“The Proclamation and Guidance are thus unlawful to the extent that they circumvent the INA’s removal procedures and cast aside federal laws affording individuals the right to apply and be considered for asylum or withholding of removal protections.”

Cheney noted that the lone dissenting judge in the case was Justin Walker, the only judge to have been appointed by Trump.

“Notably, Walker agrees with the majority that the admin cannot simply send people to places where they're likely to be tortured/persecuted,” Cheney wrote in a social media post on X. “But he would uphold Trump's right to broadly deny asylum.”