1000’s denied proper to hunt asylum and compelled again into hazard; case has implications for refugee rights
March 24, 2026, Washington, D.C. – Immigration advocates argued as we speak earlier than the Supreme Courtroom that the Trump administration’s turnback coverage violated federal immigration regulation. Underneath the now-defunct coverage, immigration officers at official border crossings bodily and indefinitely blocked individuals searching for security from setting foot on U.S. soil, flouting their obligation to examine and course of these requesting asylum.
“For greater than 45 years, Congress has assured individuals arriving at our borders the best to hunt asylum, in line with our worldwide treaty obligations,” mentioned Kelsi Corkran, Supreme Courtroom Director of the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Safety, who argued the case. “But this Administration believes that Congress gave it discretion to utterly ignore these necessities, and switch again those that are searching for refuge from persecution at its whim. Nothing within the regulation helps that outcome.”
The turnback coverage, euphemistically dubbed “metering” by authorities officers, broke with longstanding apply and violated the regulation. It denied 1000’s the best to hunt asylum, forcing them to languish in hazardous circumstances in Mexico or return to the peril that they had fled.
In 2017, Al Otro Lado, a binational group that gives free authorized and humanitarian help to immigrants, and a bunch of asylum seekers introduced a category motion go well with difficult the coverage, which the courts dominated illegal in each 2022 and 2024. Though the turnback coverage has not been in impact since 2021, the Trump administration requested the Supreme Courtroom to overturn the Ninth Circuit Courtroom of Appeals’ determination declaring the coverage illegal.
“The appropriate to hunt asylum will not be a coverage desire or a loophole— it’s a promise to human beings of their most determined hour, a promise solid after the world witnessed the horrors of the Holocaust and mentioned ‘by no means once more’. Looking for asylum will not be like taking a quantity at a deli counter and ready in your flip,” mentioned Nicole Elizabeth Ramos, Border Rights Challenge Director at Al Otro Lado, plaintiff within the case. “The individuals turned away at our border are fleeing rape, torture, kidnapping, and dying threats. You can’t inform households operating for his or her lives to return and wait at risk as a result of their struggling is inconvenient. We introduced this case as a result of the US made a authorized and ethical dedication to guard individuals fleeing persecution. The query earlier than the Courtroom is whether or not that promise nonetheless means one thing — or whether or not it may be discarded when it turns into politically uncomfortable.”
For over a century, beneath our immigration legal guidelines, authorities officers have been required to examine individuals searching for asylum who current themselves at designated ports of entry alongside the U.S.-Mexico border – as they have to examine all noncitizens searching for admission to the US. This requirement ensures that the U.S. authorities doesn’t ship weak individuals again to hazard with out giving them a possibility to hunt safety.
“The federal government’s turnback coverage ran roughshod over our legal guidelines and treaty obligations. It fueled chaos and dysfunction on the southern border. And it was an entire humanitarian disaster, returning 1000’s of weak refugees to grave hurt,” mentioned Melissa Crow, Director of Litigation on the Heart for Gender & Refugee Research (CGRS). “For a lot too many, the turnback coverage was a dying sentence.We’re right here on the Supreme Courtroom as we speak for them, and for all individuals who proceed to look to the US as a beacon of hope, as a spot the place the persecuted might discover secure haven. We’ll by no means cease combating for the rights of individuals searching for security at our nation’s doorstep.”
“We hope the Courtroom rejects the administration’s cynical try to govern the that means of the border to evade probably the most basic protections of worldwide regulation and to proceed to exile weak asylum seekers,” mentioned Baher Azmy, Authorized Director of the Heart for Constitutional Rights. “Our humanitarian treaty obligations, solid out of the horrors of WWII, are too necessary to endure from the whims of CBP.”
“President Trump’s effort to desert asylum seekers fleeing harmful circumstances in concern for his or her lives is an illegal overreach that imperils 1000’s of individuals – together with youngsters – in dire circumstances,” mentioned Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Ahead. “Democracy Ahead is proud to work with these courageous plaintiffs and our companions to guard the rights of individuals searching for asylum.”
“The Trump administration’s unlawful turnback coverage has flouted each U.S. and worldwide regulation, all whereas creating large dysfunction at our southern border,” mentioned Rebecca Cassler, Senior Litigation Lawyer on the American Immigration Council. “However most significantly, we can not overlook the individuals on the coronary heart of this case — the tons of of 1000’s of weak asylum seekers who had been despatched again to hazard, and in some circumstances, dying. They deserve justice most of all.”
For a recording of the press convention on the steps of the Supreme Courtroom following arguments, see right here.
For a recording of the interfaith vigil held exterior the Courtroom earlier this morning, see right here.
For extra concerning the case, see the marketing campaign web site, No Turning Again.
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Al Otro Lado gives holistic authorized and humanitarian assist to refugees, deportees, and different migrants within the U.S. and Tijuana by means of a multidisciplinary, client-centered, hurt reduction-based apply. They interact in particular person illustration, human rights monitoring, medical-legal partnerships, and impression litigation to guard the rights of immigrants and other people searching for asylum.
The American Immigration Council works to strengthen America by shaping how America thinks about and acts in the direction of immigrants and immigration and by working towards a extra honest and simply immigration system that opens its doorways to these in want of safety and unleashes the power and abilities that immigrants carry. The Council brings collectively downside solvers and employs 4 coordinated approaches to advance change—litigation, analysis, legislative and administrative advocacy, and communications.
The Heart for Gender & Refugee Research defends the human rights of brave refugees searching for asylum in the US. With strategic focus and unparalleled authorized experience, CGRS champions probably the most difficult circumstances, fights for due course of, and promotes insurance policies that ship security and justice for refugees.
The Heart for Constitutional Rights works with communities beneath menace to struggle for justice and liberation by means of litigation, advocacy, and strategic communications. Since 1966, the Heart for Constitutional Rights has taken on oppressive methods of energy, together with structural racism, gender oppression, financial inequity, and governmental overreach.
The Democracy Ahead Basis is a nationwide authorized group that advances democracy and social progress by means of litigation, coverage, public training, and regulatory engagement.
The Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Safety is a non-partisan, public curiosity group inside Georgetown Regulation. ICAP engages in litigation, coverage, and public training to defend constitutional rights and shield our democratic processes.
