Facts of the Case

Provided by Oyez

Beginning in 2016, U.S. Customs and Border Protection "metered" asylum seekers at southern border ports of entry, stationing officers at the boundary line to turn away migrants without valid travel documents before they stepped onto U.S. soil. Al Otro Lado, a legal aid organization, and individual asylum seekers brought a class action arguing that the policy unlawfully withheld the inspection and asylum processing the Immigration and Nationality Act requires. The district court held the metering policy unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act, and the Ninth Circuit affirmed that conclusion while narrowing the injunction.

Questions

  1. Does a noncitizen who is stopped on the Mexican side of the U.S.-Mexico border "arrive[] in the United States" within the meaning of the Immigration and Nationality Act?

Conclusions

  1. On June 25, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court held 6-3 in Noem v. Al Otro Lado that a noncitizen stopped on the Mexican side of the border has not "arrive[d] in the United States" under the Immigration and Nationality Act and gains no statutory right to inspection or asylum processing until physically crossing onto U.S. soil.