WASHINGTON, June 25 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that immigration officials can turn away asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border, upholding a metering policy established under the Obama administration and expanded during President Donald Trump's first term.
The nation's highest court made the decision in a 6-3 vote, with the conservative majority ruling in favor and three liberal justices dissenting.
"We decide only that an alien standing in Mexico does not 'arriv[e] in the United States.' The INA (Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952) neither entitles such an alien to apply for asylum nor requires an immigration officer to inspect him," according to the opinion. "We reverse the judgment of the Ninth Circuit and remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. It is so ordered."
The lawsuit was originally brought in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California in 2017 by the immigrant rights group Al Otro Lado and 13 asylum-seekers.
They argued that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's enforcement of the metering policy unlawfully withheld inspections and asylum processing to aliens who arrive at the border and seek to enter the United States.
The so-called metering policy began under Obama administration, was expanded during Trump's first term, and ended during the Biden administration. The Biden administration rescinded the metering policy in November 2021, shortly after the district court entered summary judgment.
A divided panel of the Ninth Circuit then affirmed in relevant part, holding that an alien "arrives in the United States" -- and thus must be inspected and may apply for asylum -- when the alien, while standing on the Mexico side of the border, encounters a U.S. official at the border.
The Supreme Court's latest decision reversed the judgment of the Ninth Circuit. ■
