Bloomberg Law Trump Administration Wants to Turn Away Asylum Seekers
Mar 25, 2026
Leon Fresco, immigration law expert and former Office of Immigration Litigation head, and David Voreacos, Bloomberg legal reporter covering federal courts, discuss high-stakes Supreme Court arguments on whether the administration can turn away asylum seekers. They analyze statutory language, practical effects at ports of entry, enforcement tactics, and a contentious U.S. attorney appointment in New Jersey.
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Supreme Court Likely To Favor Bright Line Physical Entry
- Fresco predicts a likely conservative majority will favor a bright-line rule requiring a person's body inside the U.S. for asylum.
- He argues justices may defer to Congress for operational fixes rather than reading broader protection into the statute.
Practical Problems Of Any Nonphysical Line
- Drawing any line short of physical entry creates unworkable edge cases about government awareness and enforcement.
- Fresco cites Haitian interdiction at sea as precedent treating extraterritorial interdictions as outside asylum protections.
Administration's De Facto Asylum Ban Complicates Relief
- The administration currently claims a near-total asylum ban at the southern border rather than using metering alone.
- That makes the practical availability of any in-person asylum processing illusory even if courts reject metering.