News Americas, New York, NY, February 3, 2025:On a day dubbed nationally as a “Day Without Immigrants,” several immigrants’ rights groups filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration over its latest proclamation aimed at completely shutting down asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The lawsuit, filed in Washington, D.C., challenges the legality of the directive, which critics argue puts thousands of lives at risk by preventing individuals from seeking safety in the U.S.
The lawsuit was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the National Immigrant Justice Center, the Texas Civil Rights Project, the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, and several other organizations. They represent legal service providers such as Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES), and the Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project, which assist asylum seekers.
Under the proclamation, which invokes section “212(f)” of the Immigration and Nationality Act, asylum protections granted by Congress are effectively nullified. Advocates argue that this move forces vulnerable individuals and families to return to dangerous conditions without due process.
“President Trump’s directive to suspend asylum entirely is extreme, unjust, and a disservice to families seeking safety,” said Rochelle Garza, president of the Texas Civil Rights Project. “Denying migrants and displaced individuals the opportunity to find safety undermines our nation’s values.”
“Just as he did in his first term, the president is attempting to rewrite our laws by executive fiat and impose an illegal policy of mass expulsions,” said Melissa Crow, director of litigation at the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS). “This time around, his administration has fully embraced racist conspiracy theories, declaring that families, children, and adults seeking safety somehow constitute a hostile ‘invasion.’ The administration cannot use this lie as justification to circumvent our laws, which allow people in the United States or arriving at the southern border to seek asylum and prohibit our government from returning refugees to countries where they face persecution or torture.”
“The Trump administration is true to its original form and using racist pretext as a means to further the president’s cowardly xenophobic agenda. In President Trump and Stephen Miller’s dystopian vision for the U.S., no one is safe from the devastating wreckage of their cruelty, and it’s the American people who stand to suffer the most if we do not intervene in opposition to such incendiary and isolationist policies,” said Javier Hidalgo, legal director at RAICES. “At RAICES, we maintain that checks on abuse of power are an essential function of our judicial branch, and we promise to use every legal tool to hold this administration accountable for fulfilling our nation’s commitments to asylum and refugee protections.”
“The United States has long served as a refuge for people fleeing persecution abroad, as we declare proudly on the Statue of Liberty,” said Scott Michelman, legal director at the ACLU of the District of Columbia. “Trump’s attempted border shutdown is an affront to our history and our values, and it will impose incalculable suffering on refugees fleeing for their lives.”
Legal experts argue that this proclamation exceeds the president’s authority. “No president has the authority to unilaterally override the protections Congress has afforded those fleeing danger,” said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project.
The lawsuit emphasizes that the U.S. has long upheld asylum protections as part of its legal and moral obligations. Advocates remain committed to challenging what they call an “unprecedented and illegal overreach” by the administration.