Supreme Court will review an old policy used to turn away asylum seekers at the US border

WASHINGTON AP The Supreme Court agreed Monday to review a procedures used under past administrations to deny displaced persons a chance to apply for asylum on the Mexican confines until space opened up to process states The justices will hear the Trump administration s appeal of lower court rulings that struck down the practice known as metering in which U S margin agents capped the number of people seeking asylum at limit crossings by prohibiting immigrants from setting foot in the U S The administration pressed for the high court s intervention even after President Donald Trump suspended the asylum system on the first day of his second term and advocates for refugees reported the lower-court rulings have no ongoing practical effect The matter will be argued in the late winter or early spring Metering was first used during President Barack Obama s administration when large numbers of Haitians appeared at the main moving across to San Diego from Tijuana Mexico It was expanded to all frontier crossings from Mexico during Trump s first term in the White House The practice ended in when the coronavirus pandemic led the establishment to restrict asylum-seekers even more severely President Joe Biden formally rescinded the use of metering in Still the Justice Department declared it needed the justices to hear the incident because the court rulings took away a tool that administrations of both parties have deemed critical for controlling the processing of inadmissible aliens during dividing line surges U S District Judge Cynthia Bashant ruled in that metering violated the immigrants constitutional rights and a federal law requiring functionaries to screen anyone who shows up seeking asylum A panel of the th U S Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Bashant s ruling in a - decision Twelve of the judges on the San Francisco-based appeals court voted to rehear the incident a strong signal that may have caught the justices attention People seeking refuge in the U S are able to apply for asylum once they are on American soil regardless of whether they came legally To qualify they have to show a fear of persecution in their own country because of specific reasons such as their race religion nationality membership in a particular social group or political opinion Once people are granted asylum they can t be deported They can work legally bring immediate family apply for legal residency and eventually seek U S citizenship It offers a permanent future in the U S