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A divided federal appeals court on Friday rejected President Donald Trump’s effort to unilaterally bar migrants who cross the US-Mexico border from seeking asylum, teeing up a likely showdown over the policy at the Supreme Court.

The 2-1 decision is a major defeat for a signature component of Trump’s immigration agenda. Administration officials repeatedly cited a proclamation the president issued on his first day back in office that sought to end asylum by any means when touting a sharp decline in unlawful crossings along the Southern border.

But the DC Circuit Court of Appeals said that proclamation and the federal rules stemming from it ignored laws Congress enacted, including the Immigration and Nationality Act.

“Barring foreign individuals who are physically present in the United States from applying for asylum and, if they make the statutory showing that they are eligible, from being considered to receive it cannot be squared with the statute,” wrote Judge Michelle Childs, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, in the decision. She was joined by Judge Nina Pillard, a Barack Obama appointee.