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Immigrant justice advocates are worried that the Trump administration’s attempt to reinstate an asylum ban at the U.S.-Mexico border through an appeal at the Supreme Court will put asylum seekers in harm’s way.

Asylum is a way for people to escape dangerous conditions such as violence, war, consequences from climate change, or persecution for their sexual orientation or gender identity. Each year, tens of thousands of people present themselves at the border to seek asylum. In 2023, the U.S. granted asylum to 54,350 people.

“People have sought safety at the border from all over the world fleeing violence, persecution, and discrimination, and that is really why asylum is so critically important,” said Amy Fischer, director of refugee and migrant rights at Amnesty International USA. “People are fleeing real life-threatening harms, and this is really the mechanism for them to find a way for safety.”

Under the first Trump administration, people seeking asylum at the United States-Mexico border would typically be met by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents who would turn them away. While some cases of asylum seekers being turned away at the San Ysidro border crossing occurred in 2016, the turn-back policies, called “metering” by the government, weren’t written and widely instituted until the first Trump administration. This turn-back policy created a humanitarian crisis at the border that impacted thousands of people seeking refuge from danger.

In response, immigrant justice lawyers representing 13 plaintiffs sued to overturn the asylum ban in Noem vs. Al Otro Lado in 2017. The lawsuit was filed in July 2017 by Al Otro Lado, along with the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, the American Immigration Council, and other organizations located near the border.

“Customs and Border Protection officers would confront people literally standing at the line and obstruct........

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