Supreme Court to review rescinded Trump policy of turning away asylum seekers at the border

Source: CNN Politics

Updated Nov 17, 2025, 9:47 AM ET
PUBLISHED Nov 17, 2025, 9:35 AM ET


The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will review a controversial immigration policy adopted during the first Trump administration of turning away potential asylum seekers before they step foot on American soil, setting up the first major immigration policy case of the term.

Federal law requires the government to process asylum seekers who arrive at ports of entry. But in 2018, President Donald Trump’s first administration began a policy known as “metering,” in which border agents simply turned back potential asylum seekers to Mexico before they entered the US.

An immigrant rights group, Al Otro Lado, and several asylum seekers filed a lawsuit in California challenging the policy. An appeals court based in San Francisco sided with the migrants, and the Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court in July.

The practical impact of the litigation, at least for now, is limited at best. The Biden administration rescinded “metering” and instead began requiring most people seeking asylum to make an appointment before arriving at a port of entry. Because of that, Al Otro Lado argued that the case “has almost no present implications, and likely no future implications either.”

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/17/politics/supreme-court-trump-asylum-seekers