Support justice-driven, accurate and transparent news — make a quick donation to Truthout today! 

The conservative-controlled U.S. Supreme Court rendered two anti-immigration decisions on Thursday, allowing the Trump administration to turn away asylum seekers at the border and stripping hundreds of thousands of people of temporary protected status.

In a case titled Mullin v. Al Otro Lado, the court sided with a Trump administration policy to turn away asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border in order to prevent them from formally making asylum claims inside the country.

Lower courts had previously determined that the definition of “arrival” to the U.S. for asylum seekers shouldn’t depend on actually entering the country — and that immigration officers can’t stop people from filing asylum claims simply by preventing them from stepping one foot over the border. But in a 6-3 ruling along ideological lines, the conservative majority found that such tactics were lawful.

“We hold that 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,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the majority opinion.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote the dissenting opinion, finding that it was inappropriate for the Supreme Court to allow the executive branch to “circumvent all these mandatory procedures” governing asylum rules “by having U. S. immigration officers stand at the border and physically block noncitizens from setting a foot onto U. S. soil.”

Trump Admin Moves to Denaturalize 17 Americans in Attack on Legal Immigration

“The majority ignores the statutory context and history, not to mention the longstanding position of the Executive Branch, all of which show that any noncitizen arriving at our doorstep and seeking admission must be inspected and allowed to apply for asylum, regardless of whether her foot has crossed the threshold,” Sotomayor explained.

The associate justice added:

The consequences of today’s decision are predictable. More people will die. More people will attempt to cross the border illegally, and some will make it while others will not. 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. 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,........

© Truthout