ACLU files lawsuit challenging Trump’s move to close U.S. asylum system

Washington — The American Civil Liberties Union on Monday filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging President Trump’s move to close down the American asylum system, saying it violates legal obligations the U.S. has to offer refuge to migrants fleeing persecution.

The lawsuit marks the first legal challenge against an executive action taken by Mr. Trump on his first day back at the White House that has allowed U.S. border officials to summarily deport migrants, without allowing them to request asylum.

In that order, Mr. Trump invoked a muscular presidential power that allows officials to bar the entry of foreigners whose entry is determined to be “detrimental” to the U.S. He justified the sweeping move by accusing migrants of staging an “invasion” of the U.S. and posing a risk to the country’s national security, public safety and public health.

It’s one of a flurry of actions the president has taken to launch his long-promised immigration crackdown. They include instructing the American military to aid in border enforcement, directing deportation officers to ramp up immigration arrests across the U.S. and suspending legal migration channels for foreigners, including Ukrainians and others from countries in turmoil.

Though other American presidents, including former President Joe Biden, have sharply restricted asylum to try to curb illegal crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border, Mr. Trump’s order is unprecedented, in its scope and legal rationale.

By concluding that the country is facing an “invasion” of migrants,” Mr. Trump effectively paused U.S. asylum law, which has required American immigration officials to at least interview people who say they fear being persecuted if deported.

In its lawsuit, the ACLU asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to block officials from enforcing Mr. Trump’s decree, which the civil rights organization said seeks to “unilaterally override the protections Congress has afforded those fleeing danger.”

“This proclamation is an unprecedented attempt to eliminate the entire asylum system created by Congress to protect desperate people fleeing grave persecution,” said Lee Gelernt, the ACLU attorney overseeing Monday’s lawsuit.

Following record levels of illegal crossings at the southern border during his first years in office, Biden enacted his own asylum crackdown in June 2024, invoking the same authority known as 212(f) that Mr. Trump is currently citing to shut down asylum processing.

While it was also challenged by the ACLU, Biden’s order was not as far-reaching as Trump’s asylum ban and it contained some exemptions, including for migrants who were able to get an appointment through a government phone app to enter the U.S. at a legal border entry point. That app was shut down immediately after Mr. Trump took office.

Biden’s asylum restriction also allowed asylum officers to interview migrants who said they were scared of being harmed if deported from the U.S.

While Mr. Trump has continued to describe the southern border as in “crisis” and facing an “invasion,” illegal crossings there have been at the lowest level in years. They first began to drop sharply early last year after Mexico increased efforts to interdict migrants and fell further following Biden’s move to limit asylum.

In January, which included over two weeks under Biden, Border Patrol recorded nearly 30,000 apprehensions of migrants crossing the southern border illegally, the lowest level since May 2020, a year that saw a dramatic reduction in migration due to COVID-era travel restrictions, according to unpublished government data obtained by CBS News.