Supreme Court clears way for Trump administration to revive restrictive
policy for asylum seekers
[June 26, 2026]
By LINDSAY WHITEHURST
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court cleared the way Thursday for the
Trump administration to potentially revive an immigration policy once
used to turn back migrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The justices, in a 6-3 decision, overturned a lower court order blocking
the practice that limited the number of people who could apply for
asylum each day, first under the Obama administration and then expanded
during President Donald Trump’s first term.
Advocates said the tactic created a humanitarian crisis as thousands of
people settled in unsafe makeshift shelters along ports of entry to
await their turn for days or months. The Trump administration said it
was necessary to deal with an increase in asylum seekers at the border.
The policy is not in place now, and crowds are much thinner as
authorities have imposed other restrictions on asylum seekers. The
Department of Homeland Security did not say if it plans to revive it,
but applauded the ruling. “This decision opens up an important tool to
continue securing our southern border,” said James Percival, the
agency's general counsel.
The administration argued that metering is a critical tool used by
presidents of both parties and should remain available. Federal
attorneys say people turned away at the border could come back later,
though lines were thousands of people long when the policy was in place
before.
The case is one of several immigration suits the court is considering
this term, including Trump’s push to restrict birthright citizenship.
The high court also allowed his administration to end deportation for
migrants fleeing instability and armed conflict on Thursday.
Under federal law, migrants who arrive in the U.S. must be able to apply
for asylum and be screened for fear of persecution in their home
countries.
The Justice Department argued that people stopped by authorities haven’t
arrived in the country, so immigration agents don’t have to let them
apply.
The court's conservative majority agreed. “A guest does not arrive in a
house when he knocks on the front door,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote.
But attorneys for people seeking asylum say the law has long meant
anyone arriving at a port of entry should be screened, and blocking
arrivals disregards the nation’s ideals.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented from the bench, saying that the
majority’s opinion “regrettably and tragically extinguishes the light of
the torch of the Statue of Liberty.”
The decision could also give people a “perverse incentive” to enter the
country illegally if they can't count on being able to legally apply for
asylum at a port of entry, she said, a concern that Alito's opinion said
was overblown.
In an unusual exchange, Alito voiced a response after she finished
speaking. He expressed surprise that she had read her dissent aloud and
defended his opinion by noting that the policy had been used under two
presidential administrations. “I won’t add anything more to that,” Alito
said.
Metering was first used under President Barack Obama when large numbers
of Haitians appeared at the main crossing to San Diego from Tijuana,
Mexico. It was expanded to all border crossings from Mexico during
Trump’s first term in the White House.
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The U.S. Supreme Court is photographed, June 8, 2026, in Washington.
(AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File)
Customs officers often cited reaching maximum capacity in holding
cells at the port of entry as a reason for delays in processing
asylum seekers waiting to be accepted for inspection, but those
claims were refuted by official data that was disclosed in a lawsuit
in 2020. Many waiting in Mexico were exposed to violence by
organized crime, severe heat during the summer and cold conditions
during the winter. The queue was managed differently at each port of
entry, sometimes by Mexican authorities, volunteers or migrants.
The policy ended in 2020 when the government introduced greater
restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic, and President Joe
Biden formally rescinded it in 2021.
The same year, a California-based federal judge found that metering
violated the asylum seekers' rights and the law requiring screening.
A divided appeals court panel affirmed the ruling, but nearly half
of the judges on the full San Francisco-based court voted to rehear
it, a strong signal that might have caught the attention of the
Supreme Court.
Since Trump returned to the White House, crowds at international
bridges have decreased significantly. In May, the government
reported an average of 114 immigrants encountered by customs
officers along the southwest ports of entry. Those numbers reached a
daily high of 1,703 immigrants in May 2024.
Attorneys with the group Democracy Forward first brought the case,
and condemned Thursday's ruling. “We are disappointed in the Court’s
decision and call on all Americans to demand that our government
protect the families the Court today decided to keep in harm’s way,”
said President and CEO Skye Perryman.
They represented the group Al Otro Lado, whose executive director
said the decision would mean a “hardening of borders to keep out the
most vulnerable" that is "sure to result in many more lives lost.”
U.S. law allows people seeking refuge to apply for asylum once they
are on American soil, regardless of whether they came legally. To
qualify for asylum, they must show a fear of persecution in their
homeland for specific reasons, like race, religion, nationality,
membership in a particular social group or political opinion.
People who are eventually granted asylum can’t be deported. They can
legally work, bring in immediate family, apply for legal residency
and seek citizenship.
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Associated Press writers Fatima Hussein and Rebecca Santana in
Washington, as well as Valerie Gonzalez in McAllen, Texas,
contributed to this report.
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