Supreme Court to consider when asylum-seekers at the border have arrived in the US

The Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday in a key border policy case over whether migrants at the border can seek asylum from the Mexican side if they are stopped from reaching U.S. soil to make their claim.

The first-term Trump administration’s formalized “metering” policy at the border to prevent migrant surges from overwhelming federal immigration officials is at the center of the case Noem v. Al Otro Lado. While the second term of the Trump administration has not attempted to revive the policy, which was rescinded by former President Joe Biden, the Justice Department is seeking to allow the policy to remain effective if reinstated.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer urged the justices in his brief to reverse the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’s 2024 ruling finding that, under federal law, a migrant who “arrives in the United States” and must have asylum claims heard by a