It is the latest lawsuit led by the American Civil Liberties Union
ICE arrests more than 500 migrants with criminal records
Fox News Lawrence Jones reports the latest on the Trump administrations efforts to secure the southern border and crack down on illegal immigration.
A group of left-wing activist groups, led by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), sued the Trump administration on Monday over its efforts to limit the use of asylum at the southern border – leading the Trump White House to renew a crucial pledge.
On day one of his administration, President Donald Trump signed executive orders declaring a national emergency at the border and allowing officials to remove immigrants without allowing them to request asylum, citing an "invasion" at the border.
It was part of a crackdown at the border that included deploying the military and ending parole programs. Fox News Digital reported last week that border numbers in the first seven days in office were down 60% compared to the last week of the Biden administration.
TRUMP ADMIN HITS BACK AS ACLU LAUNCHES LAWSUIT ON BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP: ‘READY TO FACE THEM’
Army soldiers patrol the U.S.-Mexico border at Eagle Pass, Texas, on Jan. 24, 2025. President Donald Trump ordered 1,500 more military personnel to the border with Mexico as part of a flurry of steps to tackle immigration, his spokeswoman said on Jan. 22. (Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images)
The ACLU and other groups say that the use of the power is unlawful, given U.S. asylum law allows immigrants to apply for asylum, even if they entered the U.S. illegally.
The lawsuit claims that the "unlawful" and "unprecedented" order is doing just what Congress by statute decreed that the United States must not do.
"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. Indeed, the Proclamation does not even exempt unaccompanied children, despite the specific protections such children receive by statute," it says.
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President Donald Trump holds an executive order on "Continuing the President's National Council for the American Worker and the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board," which he signed during an American Workforce Policy Advisory Board meeting in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on June 26, 2020. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
"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."
Groups signed onto the lawsuit include the National Immigrant Justice Center, Texas Civil Rights Project, the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, the ACLU of the District of Columbia and the ACLU of Texas.
The White House indicated in a statement that it has no plans to change course from its current trajectory.
"President Trump was given a resounding mandate to end the disregard and abuse of our immigration laws and secure our borders," White House spokesperson Kush Desai told Fox News Digital. "The Trump administration will continue to put Americans and America First."
It is the latest lawsuit by the ACLU against the Trump administration. The ACLU filed a lawsuit last month over Trump’s order ending birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants and those holding temporary visas.
The lawsuit claimed the order is unconstitutional and against both congressional intent and Supreme Court precedent. The lawsuit was separate to one filed by two dozen states on the same issue. The White House said in response that the lawsuits are "nothing more than an extension of the Left’s resistance – and the Trump administration is ready to face them in court."
Adam Shaw is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital, primarily covering immigration and border security.
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