Arizona Tribune - US Supreme Court says asylum seekers can be turned away before border

The policy, known as "metering," has not been in place since 2021, but President Donald Trump sought a ruling validating it as legal should it be reinstated.

The policy allowed US federal immigration agents on the Mexican side of the US-Mexico border to turn away potential asylum seekers before they reached US soil.

The Immigration and Nationality Act allows an "alien who is physically present in the United States or who arrives in the United States" to apply for asylum.

A divided appeals court ruled in 2024 that this applies to potential asylum seekers at ports of entry "whichever side of the border they are standing on."

The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to reject this interpretation and the conservative-dominated court did so in a 6-3 ruling.

The question before the Supreme Court was "whether an alien who is stopped on the Mexican side of the US-Mexico border 'arrives in the United States.'"

Justice Samuel Alito, in a majority opinion joined by the five other conservatives, said "an alien standing in Mexico does not 'arrive in the United States' by attempting, and failing, to set foot in this country.

"An alien 'arrives in the United States' only when he crosses the border," Alito said. "A person arrives in a destination when he enters within its area -- not before -- and that conclusion does not change because someone or something blocks entry."

Justice Sonia Sotomayor penned a dissent joined by the other two liberal justices.

"The Court's illogical interpretation is driven almost entirely by a fixation on a single word: 'in,'" Sotomayor wrote, and "blesses the Executive Branch's decision to slam the door shut on all who are fleeing persecution.

"The consequences of today's decision are predictable," she said. "More people will die. More people will attempt to cross the border illegally, and some will make it while others will not."

Trump campaigned for the White House on a promise to expel millions of undocumented migrants and has taken a number of actions since returning to the White House aimed at speeding up deportations and reducing border crossings.

The asylum case is one of a number of immigration-related cases the Supreme Court heard this term.

On Thursday, the top court backed a Trump administration move to strip deportation protections from some 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians living in the United States.

The Supreme Court is expected to rule next week on President Donald Trump's bid to end birthright citizenship, which makes anyone born on US soil automatically a citizen.

W.Stewart--AT