Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a blistering dissent Thursday in the court’s 6-3 ruling that strips legal rights from asylum-seekers.
“The consequences of today’s decision are predictable,” Sotomayor said from the bench. “More people will die.”
The case centered around a “metering” policy that began at the end of President Barack Obama’s administration, ended under President Joe Biden, and which the Trump administration sought to revive.
Under the policy, which allowed ports of entry to limit daily capacity, those seeking asylum in the U.S. were turned away by the thousands. At question was whether those who had made it to the port of entry, but been blocked or turned away from crossing over onto American soil, were considered to have “arrived” in the U.S. and thus had the right under American law to claim asylum.
“In ordinary speech, no one would say that a person ‘arrives in’ a place — for example, a house, a city, or a country — before the person enters that place,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the conservative majority. “An alien who is standing in Mexico does not ‘arriv[e] in the United States’ by attempting, and failing, to set foot in this country. An alien ‘arrives in the United States’ only when he crosses the border.”
In her dissent, Sotomayor said the law requires border agents to process all migrants who come to a port of entry.
“Since 1917, Congress has required immigration officers to inspect noncitizens who arrive at ports of entry to determine whether they may enter the United States,” she wrote. “This system is designed to ensure that the Government processes each person seeking to come into the United States to determine who should be let in, who should be turned away, and who should be allowed to apply for asylum.”
With the court’s new ruling, Sotomayor said, asylum-seekers will be subjected to increased violence.
“More people will be forced to walk along the U. S.-Mexico border in dangerous conditions, trying to find a port that will inspect them,” Sotomayor said from the bench. “More people will turn back and be subjected to violence because of something they cannot or should not have to change about themselves, such as their race, religion, nationality, or political opinion.”