Trump wants a border win. Will Supreme Court allow limits on asylum-seekers?

The Justice Department said border officials must be able to turn away asylum-seekers during surges. Lower courts said that's against the law.

WASHINGTON – As the battle over immigration roils the country, the Supreme Court on March 24 will debate whether the federal government can send back asylum-seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The practice often called ''metering" – used by Democratic and Republican administrations alike to manage the number of people who can claim asylum each day – is not being used now. But the Trump administration wants to be able to use it, calling the policy a “critical tool for addressing border surges.”

The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to overturn a ruling that the government is required to process a claim once someone reaches a port of entry.

Immigrant rights organizations and asylum-seekers challenging the policy argue the government has used it to turn away people who are desperate, even when there’s sufficient staffing and other resources to deal with them.

In a 2020 report, internal watchdogs at the Homeland Security Department said that, regardless of a port's actual capacity and capability, border patrol agents at some crossings routinely told migrants they weren’t able to process them.