The United States Supreme Court on Wednesday permitted President Donald Trump’s administration to implement asylum restrictions which would prevent most Central American migrants from applying at the American border.

The decision, temporarily in effect is seen as a victory for Trump’s restrictive immigration policies which he has made the backbone of his presidency but which have been repeatedly challenged in court.

The top court stayed a decision by a lower court which had blocked the restrictions, which declare ineligible for asylum any migrant who enters the US from the southern border.

The asylum restrictions further target the flow of migrants from Central America and other countries who have tried to cross into the US from Mexico and request asylum.

These requests which are often made by families who claim they have fled endemic violence and poverty in their countries allow the applicants to remain in and move about freely in America while their cases are adjudicated.

Dissenting from the decision, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that: “Once again, the Executive Branch has issued a rule that seeks to upend longstanding practices regarding refugees who seek shelter from persecution.

“In effect, the rule forbids almost all Central Americans to apply for asylum in the United States if they enter or seek to enter through the southern border, unless they were first denied asylum in Mexico or another third country.”

Trump took to Twitter to hail the judgment, saying: “Big United States Supreme Court WIN for the Border on Asylum!”

The policy is among a host of measures which President Trump has taken in a bid to contain the flow of migrants into the US, including the deployment of troops at the country’s southern border.

Trump has also pressured the Mexican government to take action, threatening in May to impose tariffs on all of the country’s goods if it did not do more to stop the flow of migrants.

Mexico said last week that it has slashed undocumented migration to the US by 56 percent since May.