U.S. border agents directed to stop deportations under Trump's asylum ban after court order, sources say [View all]

Source: CBS News

Updated on: August 4, 2025 / 8:00 PM EDT


U.S. border agents have been directed to stop deporting migrants under President Trump's ban on asylum claims, following a federal court order that said the measure could not be used to completely suspend humanitarian protections for asylum-seekers, two Department of Homeland Security officials told CBS News.

The move effectively lifts a sweeping policy that had closed the American asylum system to those entering the U.S. illegally or without proper documents. It's a measure the second Trump administration has credited for a steep drop in illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border, where officials last month reported the lowest monthly level of migrant apprehensions on record.

Mr. Trump's asylum crackdown was unprecedented in scope. The proclamation underpinning it, issued just hours after he returned to the White House in January, gave U.S. border officials the power to summarily deport migrants without allowing them to request asylum, a right enshrined in American law for decades. Mr. Trump said the extraordinary action was necessary due to what he called an "invasion" of migrants under the Biden administration, which faced record levels of illegal crossings at the southern border until it too restricted asylum last year.

On Friday, a federal appeals court lifted its pause on a lower judge's ruling that found Mr. Trump's decree violated U.S. asylum laws. While the appellate court narrowed the lower court's order, saying Mr. Trump's proclamation could be used to pause access to the asylum system, it also ruled the U.S. government could not disregard other laws that bar officials from deporting migrants to places where they could be tortured or persecuted.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/border-agents-directed-to-stop-deportations-under-trumps-asylum-ban-after-court-order/