The supreme court in a 6-3 vote, ruled that the government can legally station officers at the border to physically prevent migrants seeking asylum that arrive at the border from actually crossing onto U.S. soil, which blocks their ability to apply for asylum. The ruling will give the Trump administration the option to revive a policy first used in 2016, but was rescinded under the Biden administration.
The case is called Al Otro Lado v. Mullin. It is focused on a policy known as “metering“ which is the practice of having immigration officers at ports of entry at the U.S.-Mexico border which will actually physically prevent migrants from stepping onto U.S. soil. The governments argument is that if you cannot step across, you haven’t “arrived in” the United States and therefore you cannot legally apply for asylum.
According to federal law, a migrant who “arrives in” the United States or is “physically present” here can apply for asylum. What the case actually turned on is what “arrives in” actually means.
Justice Samuel Alito wrote the majority opinion, which was that someone standing in Mexico does not “arrive in” the United States by attempting and failing to set foot into the country, but that they only arrive when they actually cross the border. Alito’s plain language framing: “A guest does not arrive in a house when he knocks on the front door.”
So what the majorities logic is saying is that the word “arrives in” has an ordinary meaning, and that meaning requires you to actually enter. Stopping you before you cross legally, according this logic, is legally the same as you never having shown up.
3 justices, voted against this ruling. Justice Sonia Sotomayor read her dissent aloud from the bench, which typically is something most justices will reserve for cases where they want to signal strong disagreement. Her core argument stated that federal law has required immigration officers to inspect noncitizens who arrive at ports of entry since 1917, and that the majorities opinion will give the executive branch the ability to nullify asylum rights through physical positioning without congressional approval. Sotomayor also states that the system is designed to ensure the government processes each person seeking to come into the U.S. to determine who should be let in, and who should be turned away, and who can be allowed to apply for asylum.
The significance in this ruling is that it could determine who can get their foot into the door to start the process. Whether anything will actually change, or the implications of such rulings are as always, for you to decide.
-Elijah Iraheta, Editor in Chief, Saber News
