A federal appeals court ruled Friday that President Donald Trump does not have the authority to suspend asylum access for migrants, a crucial piece of the president’s immigration enforcement agenda.

A three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia found that the presidency does not afford Trump the power to circumvent the federal immigration laws that allow for migrants to apply for asylum at the border.

The Immigration and Nationality Act, the federal law that allows migrants to seek asylum once they have entered the U.S., does not allow the president to suspend asylum claims or the mandatory process of reviewing cases for migrants who are fleeing violence in their home countries, the court determined, upholding a lower court’s ruling.

The “text, structure, and history” of the act, the panel ruled, “make clear that in supplying power to suspend entry by Presidential proclamation, Congress did not intend to grant the Executive the expansive removal authority it asserts.” U.S. Circuit Judge J. Michelle Childs, a Biden appointee, wrote the majority opinion for the panel, which also included Cornelia Pillard, an Obama appointee, and Justin Walker, a Trump nominee who wrote a partial dissent.

It’s unclear how the ruling will affect what has effectively been a 15-month freeze on asylum applications at the southern border. The administration is expected to appeal.

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson decried the decision and said Trump “utilized his lawful authority” in suspending asylum applications along the southern border.

“The DOJ will seek further review of this badly flawed decision and we are confident we will be vindicated,” Jackson told MS NOW.

The administration can ask the entire D.C. Circuit Court to review the case, or try to take it directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The case was brought by the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, an immigration advocacy group. American Civil Liberties Union attorney Lee Gelernt, who argued the case on the group’s behalf, told MS NOW the ruling centered on “the inhumane Trump policy of sending people, including families with little children, back to horrific danger without even a hearing. The court made clear that the president does not have the unilateral power to wipe away all of the asylum laws enacted by Congress.”

Friday’s decision comes as the Supreme Court weighs a case that considers where migrants are able to claim asylum along the southern U.S. border. That case will determine if migrants must cross the border onto U.S. soil or whether presenting the claim to a border agent on the Mexican side is enough. A decision is expected in the coming weeks.

Emily Hung contributed to this report.

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