WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court agreed Monday to review a policy used under past administrations to deny migrants the opportunity to apply for asylum at the Mexican border until processing space opens up.
The justices will consider the Trump administration's appeal of lower court rulings striking down a practice known as gauging, in which U.S. border agents limited the number of people seeking asylum at border crossings by barring migrants from entering the United States.
The administration has pushed for high court intervention even after President Donald Trump suspended the asylum system on the first day of his second term, and migrant advocates said lower court decisions have little lasting practical effect.
The case will be heard in late winter or early spring.
The meters were first used during President Barack Obama's administration, when large numbers of Haitians showed up at a major intersection leading into San Diego from Tijuana, Mexico. During Trump's first term in the White House, it was extended to all border crossings with Mexico.
The practice ended in 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic forced the government to further restrict the rights of asylum seekers. President Joe Biden has officially ended the use of meters in 2021.
However, the Justice Department said it wants the justices to hear the case because the court's decisions took away “a tool that administrations on both sides have found critical to controlling the processing of inadmissible aliens during border surges.”
U.S. District Judge Cynthia Bashant ruled in 2021 that the metering violates migrants' constitutional rights and a federal law requiring officials to screen anyone seeking asylum.
A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Bashant's decision in a 2-1 decision. Twelve of the 29 appeals court judges in San Francisco voted to rehear the case, a strong signal that may have caught the justices' attention.
People seeking asylum in the United States can apply for asylum as soon as they land on American soil, regardless of whether they arrived legally. To qualify, they must demonstrate a fear of being persecuted in their home country for specific reasons, such as their race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.
Once people are granted asylum, they cannot be deported. They can work legally, bring immediate family with them, apply for legal residency, and ultimately become U.S. citizens. He offers a permanent future in the US.
