Washington, DC – A number of organizations advocating for the rights of immigrants in the United States, along with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), have filed a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s ban on asylum claims.
This lawsuit is the latest effort to oppose Trump’s strict immigration policies, which have targeted both those already in the country and those seeking safety from other nations.
Similar to other legal challenges against the Trump administration, the complaint filed on Monday argues that the president exceeded his constitutional authority and violated existing laws.
As it stands now, individuals fleeing persecution are allowed to enter the US and apply for asylum.
“This is an unprecedented attempt to seize power that will endanger countless lives,” said Lee Gallant, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, in a statement.
“No president has the authority to unilaterally override the protections that Congress has provided to those fleeing danger.”
The complaint references domestic laws and international treaties that mandate the US government to allow individuals to seek asylum in the country, including the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
“Through the Immigration and Nationality Act, Congress has established a comprehensive statutory system that permits noncitizens fleeing persecution or torture to seek refuge in the United States,” the lawsuit argues.
“By implementing the Proclamation, the government is doing exactly what Congress has specifically prohibited the United States from doing. It is sending asylum seekers – not just single adults, but families as well – back to countries where they face persecution or torture.”
A proclamation on the first day
The complaint filed on Monday directly challenges one of the proclamations signed by Trump on the first day of his second term.
Shortly after his inauguration on January 20, Trump issued a proclamation titled, “Ensuring the Security of the Nation Against Invasion”.
In this proclamation, he declared that undocumented immigrants “are barred from utilizing any provisions from the INA that would allow them to remain in the United States”.
The President cited concerns related to “national security” and the spread of “communicable diseases” as his reasons. He also claimed that the southern border of the US was facing an “overwhelm of entries”.
“Therefore, I direct that the entry of such aliens into the United States be suspended until I determine that the invasion at the southern border has ceased,” wrote Trump.
Trump had long advocated for a tough stance on immigration, including the idea of sealing the border to asylum seekers.
His re-election campaign in 2024 was marked by the same strong rhetoric, including claims that the US was facing an influx of migrants like an “invasion”.
Trump frequently blamed undocumented individuals for various issues in the country, including violent crimes and unemployment.
A response
However, organizations like the ACLU have worked to push back against Trump’s policies, using the legal system to question their legality.
In the lawsuit filed on Monday, it is argued that Trump’s proclamation not only contradicts US laws, but also the country’s commitments under international treaties.
For instance, the US is a party to the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees, a treaty that establishes protections for refugees.
Jennifer Babaie, director of advocacy and legal services at the Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center in Texas, said in a statement on Monday that the lawsuit demonstrates that she and others “will not stay quiet as our immigration laws are manipulated”.
“Regardless of anyone’s personal beliefs about immigration, any government effort to blatantly violate our laws is a serious matter that affects all communities across the nation,” said Babaie.
The Texas-based organization is one of the four plaintiffs in the lawsuit, along with the Texas Civil Rights Project, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Service (RAICES), and the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project.
Wave of legal battles
Yet the immigration actions taken by Trump in the initial weeks of his second term go beyond just the asylum issue.
Even in the first hours of his presidency, Trump signed multiple executive orders aimed at restricting immigration and deporting undocumented individuals already in the US.
Trump intensified immigration enforcement activities, deployed troops to the US border, suspended the US refugee program for 90 days, and discontinued an online application used by asylum seekers to schedule appointments with US immigration officials.
Some asylum seekers had been waiting for months for the appointments they had arranged through the app, known as CBP One. The removal of the app cancelled their scheduled meetings, leaving them in a state of uncertainty.
In response, rights groups launched a legal challenge to challenge the elimination of CBP One.
Other legal challenges seek to oppose Trump’s expansion of “expedited removal” procedures, which aim to quickly deport undocumented individuals from the country.
And there are also efforts to overturn a stop-work order that halted funding for legal services for immigrants detained in detention centers.
At the same time, advocacy groups and various state governments have filed at least five lawsuits against Trump’s executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship in the US.
In January, a federal judge swiftly blocked Trump’s order, calling it “clearly unconstitutional”.
