America's highest court considers appeal by refugee seeking sanctuary

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US Supreme Court

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The US Supreme Court on Tuesday was examining a former policy of turning away migrants before they crossed the US-Mexico border to present an asylum claim.

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The policy, known as “metering,” has not been in place since 2021, but President Donald Trump is seeking a ruling validating it as legal in the event it may be reinstated.

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

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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.

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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.”

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The Trump administration is asking the conservative-dominated Supreme Court to reject this interpretation.

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“In ordinary English, a person ‘arrives in’ a country only when he comes within its borders,” Solicitor General John Sauer said in a filing. “An alien thus does not ‘arrive in’ the United States while he is still in Mexico.”

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

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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.

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Al Otro Lado, an immigration rights group representing asylum seekers, is challenging the border turnback policy.

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“Our immigration laws require the government to inspect and process people seeking asylum at ports of entry and allow them to pursue their legal claims in the United States,” it said.

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“The government’s turnback policy was an illegal scheme to circumvent these requirements by physically blocking asylum seekers arriving at ports of entry and preventing them from crossing the border to seek protection,” Al Otro Lado said.

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Vulnerable families, children, and adults fleeing persecution were stranded in perilous conditions where they faced violent assault, kidnapping, and death, the group said.

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The Trump administration has drastically cut back acceptance of refugees and asylum seekers and has given priority to white South Africans.

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The asylum case is one of a number of immigration-related cases the Supreme Court has agreed to hear this year.

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On April 1, the justices are to hear a challenge to Trump’s bid to end birthright citizenship. They have also agreed to rule on the administration’s bid to strip temporary legal protections against deportation from Haitian and Syrian migrants.

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