Judge smacks down Trump's 'invasion' claim to justify asylum ban

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., smacked down President Donald Trump's total ban on asylum for migrants on Tuesday.

President Donald Trump issued this order on his first day in office, effectively prohibiting an asylum claim for anyone who crosses the border other than at a designated port of entry or who arrives in the country without a visa or documentation of their medical or criminal history. He justified this by claiming that the number of migrants crossing the border amounted to an "invasion" of the United States, and therefore he had the national security authority to suspend laws governing the asylum process.

“The current situation at the southern border qualifies as an invasion,” Trump wrote in his proclamation, because “the sheer number of aliens entering the United States has overwhelmed the system” and is “prevent[ing] the Federal Government from obtaining operational control of the border.”

U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss, however, demolished this argument in a lengthy order.

"Nothing in the [Immigration and Nationality Act] or the Constitution grants the President ... the sweeping authority asserted in the proclamation and implementing guidance. An appeal to necessity cannot fill that void," wrote Moss.

However, he granted a two-week stay of his decision to allow the Trump administration to appeal.

It's the latest in a series of rulings that have seen various judges side both with and against the administration as they try to ramp up their efforts to block immigration and ramp up deportation.

The president has lashed out at judges ruling against him, often lobbing personal attacks at specific jurists and complaining that they are not "letting him do the job." He received a partial victory late last month when the Supreme Court issued a surprise ruling that put new limits on when lower-court judges can issue nationwide injunctions against executive policy, although some experts believe the ruling has fairly easy workarounds.