The Supreme Court handed President Donald Trump two major immigration victories on Thursday morning, both having to do with his administration's efforts to reduce asylum claims.In the first case, Mullin v.Al Otro Lado, the court held that migrants who are turned away at the border before entering the United States are not entitled to apply for asylum.
In the second case, Mullin v.Doe, the court ruled that Haitian and Syrian nationals in the United States with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) could not receive judicial relief postponing the revocation of their status while they challenge the Trump administration’s efforts to revoke it in court.Writing the opinion in Mullin v.
Al Otro Lado, Justice Samuel Alito argued that a migrant who reaches the southern border but is turned away before entering has not, for legal purposes, "arrive[d] in" the United States.The holding is significant because current law provides that anyone who "arrives in the United States" has the right to apply for asylum.SUPREME COURT DIVIDED ON TRUMP EFFORT TO TERMINATE TEMPORARY PROTECTIONS FOR HAITIAN, SYRIAN MIGRANTSDemonstrators outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, April 1, 2026.
((Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images))"This case presents a straightforward question: whether an alien who seeks to enter the United States from Mexico ‘arrives in the United States’ when he or she is still in Mexico," Alito wrote."In the decision below, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit answered ‘yes.’ That is wrong.
In ordinary speech, no one would say that a person ‘arrives in’ a place — for example, a house, a city, or a country — before the person enters that place."Also writing the opinion in Mullin v.Doe, Alito held that the law establishing TPS explicitly blocks recipients from legal relief unless their claims have a constitutional basis. ALITO BLASTS LAWYER'S WORD-SALAD BLURRING ASYLUM LAWPro and anti-Trump demonstrators rally outs...