The Supreme Court will review whether the government can limit asylum claims at the southern border, addressing what constitutes a migrant’s “arrival.”
Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, an illegal immigrant arriving in the United States can apply for asylum. According to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, however, migrants stopped before entering the country are also considered to have arrived in the United States.
“Before this litigation, border officials had repeatedly addressed migrant surges by standing at the border and preventing aliens without valid travel documents from entering,” Solicitor General John Sauer wrote in the petition, adding that a court declared that practice “unlawful, on the theory that aliens stopped on the Mexican side of the border have a statutory right to apply for asylum in the United States and to be inspected by federal immigration officers.”
“The decision thus deprives the Executive Branch of a critical tool for addressing border surges and for preventing overcrowding at ports of entry along the border,” the petition explains.
Several members of Congress also urged the Supreme Court to address the matter. According to the congressmen, the court “badly misconstrued plain statutory text, usurped the policymaking authority of the political branches, granted millions of aliens a right to seek asylum never authorized by Congress, and made a hash of other provisions of the INA.”
President Trump issued an executive order in January to realign the nation’s refugee admissions program. “The United States lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans, that protects their safety and security, and that ensures the appropriate assimilation of refugees,” the order said. “This order suspends the USRAP until such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligns with the interests of the United States.”
A separate executive order called the surge of migrants an “invasion.”
