The Supreme Court has cleared the way for the Trump administration to turn away asylum seekers at the southern border. This decision resolves a prolonged legal dispute concerning a Border Patrol practice implemented when processing capacity at ports of entry is limited. Justice Samuel Alito’s majority opinion stated that an alien only "arrives in the United States" upon physically crossing the border, not by merely attempting to set foot in the country from Mexico. The turn-away system, known as metering, originated under the Obama administration in 2016 to manage high traffic at ports of entry, and was later expanded by the Trump administration. Asylum seekers would typically wait in Mexico until port capacity allowed for entry, though those with valid travel documents could enter freely. Although a judge overturned the policy during the Biden administration, it has now been reinstated by the Supreme Court. Lawyers for Al Otro Lado, a non-profit aiding migrants, failed to convince the court that immigration law required agents to process all asylum seekers at ports of entry. During oral arguments, Justice Alito questioned the definition of "arriving in the U.S.," central to asylum claims, using an analogy of someone knocking at a door versus being inside a house. The Department of Homeland Security's General Counsel, James Percival, emphasized that the ruling vindicates the principle that an alien is not "in the United States" until physically present within its borders.