This is an appeal of a district court’s July 2, 2025 decision to grant partial summary judgment and class certification for Plaintiffs regarding President Trump's executive order (“asylum ban EO”) that denies noncitizens coming to the southern border their right (protected by U.S. law) to request humanitarian protection. In that decision, in addition to certifying a nationwide class, Judge Moss partially granted Plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment, holding that the President did not have the authority—under immigration laws or the Constitution—to issue the EO denying noncitizens arriving to the southern border the right to request asylum. The federal government noticed the appeal the same day, and this appeal ensued.
Shortly after noticing the appeal, the federal government asked the D.C. Circuit to stay (pause) Judge Moss’s order during the remainder of the appeal. The D.C. Court of Appeals granted the government’s request and ordered that the district court’s July 2 decisions be administratively stayed only as to the named plaintiffs in the case.
On August 1, the D.C. Circuit issued an order limiting the district court’s class certification decision. The D.C. Circuit clarified that the class only includes people here in the U.S. while the EO is in effect, and further held that the EO can be used to prevent people from seeking asylum but cannot be used to prevent people from applying for witholding of removal and protection under the United Nation’s Convention Against Torture.
TECHNICAL SUMMARY
The Complaint alleges violations of the asylum statute 8 U.S.C. § 1158(a)(1); the withholding of removal statute, 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b)(3); the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998, codified as a note to 8 U.S.C. § 1231); the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1232(a)(5)(D); the Immigration and Nationality Act generally; constitutional separation of powers; and the APA’s prohibition on arbitrary and capricious agency action and its requirement for notice and comment rulemaking.
Latest Updates
- 08/01/2025
