Appeals Court Rules Against Border Policy That Turned Away Asylum Seekers After Capacity Reached

A U.S. appeals court ruled on Wednesday that the federal government's former practice of turning away asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border due to a daily cap violated federal immigration law that requires border agents to inspect all asylum seekers who "arrive" at designated border crossings, even if they have not yet crossed into the United States.

The practice, known as metering, was implemented in 2016 in response to a surge in the number of inadmissible Haitian nationals seeking admission at San Diego ports of entry. It was later expanded under the Trump administration before being discontinued in 2021.

Metering allowed U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents to limit the number of asylum seekers processed daily, leaving many migrants vulnerable to violence, kidnapping, and exploitation in Mexican border towns like Tijuana.

This ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by the advocacy group Al Otro Lado, which argued that metering violated both the Immigration and Nationality Act and the Fifth Amendment's due process clause. In 2021, a federal judge in California ruled against metering, but the government appealed, arguing that federal immigration law only applies once a migrant sets foot in the United States. The appeals court, however, upheld the earlier ruling.

"A noncitizen who presents herself to a border official at a port of entry has arrived in the United States ... whether she is standing just at the edge of the port of entry or somewhere within it," Circuit Judge Michelle Friedland wrote.

While this ruling marks a victory for immigration advocates, it does not preclude further litigation from the federal government.

In dissent, Circuit Judge Ryan Nelson argued that the court misinterpreted the law, asserting that a migrant must be physically present in the U.S. to be eligible for asylum and labeling the appeal's court ruling as "wrong, troubling, and breathtaking," Reuters reports.

On the flipside, Pedro Rios, who works closely with Al Otro Lado, described metering to San Diego's 10 News as "an "institutionalized practice of pushing people away from their right to seek asylum" adding that he hopes this ruling helps migrants request asylum at a port of entry "without being forced to face different obstacles.