Trump’s effort to bar migrants from claiming asylum at the border rejected, setting up possible Supreme Court showdown

(CNN) — A divided federal appeals court on Friday rejected President Donald Trump’s effort to unilaterally bar migrants who cross the US-Mexico border from seeking asylum, teeing up a likely showdown over the policy at the Supreme Court.

The 2-1 decision is a major defeat for a signature component of Trump’s immigration agenda. Administration officials repeatedly cited a proclamation the president issued on his first day back in office that sought to end asylum by any means when touting a sharp decline in unlawful crossings along the Southern border.

But the DC Circuit Court of Appeals said that proclamation and the federal rules stemming from it ignored laws Congress enacted, including the Immigration and Nationality Act.

“Barring foreign individuals who are physically present in the United States from applying for asylum and, if they make the statutory showing that they are eligible, from being considered to receive it cannot be squared with the statute,” wrote Judge Michelle Childs, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, in the decision. She was joined by Judge Nina Pillard, a Barack Obama appointee.

“Congress enacted the asylum statute, with narrow exceptions specified by statute, to grant all foreign individuals ‘physically present’ in the United States a right to apply for asylum and have their individual applications adjudicated,” the court said. “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.”

Judge Justin Walker, a Trump appointee, would have allowed migrants to seek other forms of protection, but not asylum.

“We strongly disagree with this ruling from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals — this will not be the last word on this matter,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesman told CNN in a statement.

The administration has the option of asking the full DC Circuit to reconsider the case, but it could also appeal directly to the Supreme Court. Experts have long said that the case would eventually land before the justices for review.

American Civil Liberties Union attorney Lee Gelernt, who represents the migrants at the center of the legal challenge, said Friday’s decision “will potentially save the lives of thousands of people fleeing grave danger who were denied even a hearing under the Trump administration’s horrific asylum ban.”

The court’s decision upholds an earlier ruling issued last July by a judge in Washington, DC, that concluded Trump’s policy was unlawful.

“The President cannot adopt an alternative immigration system, which supplants the statutes that Congress has enacted,” US District Judge Randolph Moss wrote in a lengthy decision that drew intense backlash from administration officials.

This story was updated with additional information from the ruling.

CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez contributed to this report.

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