Trump's Asylum Ban Faces Lawsuit From Immigration Advocacy Groups: 'Flagrantly Illegal'

Immigration advocacy groups, led by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), have filed a federal lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's executive order barring asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border. The complaint, filed in Washington, D.C., argues that the order is both unlawful and unprecedented, violating protections established by Congress and international law.

"This is an unprecedented power grab that will put countless lives in danger," said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project. "No president has the authority to unilaterally override the protections Congress has afforded those fleeing danger."

"This is the latest flagrantly illegal attempt by the executive branch to end humanitarian protection at the U.S.-Mexico border," echoed Richard Caldarone, senior litigation attorney at the National Immigrant Justice Center, one of several organizations who filed the suit in conjunction, a list that also includes Florence Project, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, and the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES).

The lawsuit contends that the administration is expelling noncitizens without affording them the opportunity to seek asylum, in direct contravention of U.S. and international refugee protections. "The government is doing just what Congress by statute decreed that the United States must not do," the plaintiffs assert in the complaint. "It is returning asylum seekers—not just single adults, but families too—to countries where they face persecution or torture, without allowing them to invoke the protections Congress has provided."

The lawsuit also argues that Trump's declaration was an "extreme example of presidential overreach." They said the government is "summarily expelling noncitizens" without giving them the opportunity to apply for asylum or other forms of protection they're legally entitled to and without giving them the opportunity to make a phone call.

The White House has defended the policy, with spokesperson Kush Desai stating that "President Trump was given a resounding mandate to end the disregard and abuse of our immigration laws and secure our borders," and that "The Trump administration will continue to put Americans and America First," according to the Associated Press.

The lawsuit over Trump's asylum ban is the latest in a series of legal challenges mounted by the ACLU against his administration. A previous lawsuit contested Trump's executive order seeking to deny birthright citizenship to certain U.S.-born children. That case, also led by the ACLU, argued that the order violated the 14th Amendment's guarantee of citizenship to all individuals born in the United States.

"Denying citizenship to U.S.-born children is not only unconstitutional—it's also a reckless and ruthless repudiation of American values," said Anthony Romero, ACLU's executive director, at the time of the filing.