Trump administration hails Supreme Court immigration rulings as major victory

WASHINGTON: The Trump administration hailed a series of US Supreme Court immigration rulings on Thursday (local time), including a decision allowing officials to turn away migrants seeking asylum at the US-Mexico border before they enter the country.

Administration officials said that the rulings strengthen immigration enforcement and reinforce the temporary nature of humanitarian protections. In a post on X, Secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, said, “The three rulings from the Supreme Court this week are all victories for enforcing our nation’s immigration laws”.

The three rulings from the Supreme Court this week are all victories for enforcing our nation’s immigration laws.

They include barring aliens from applying for asylum if they haven’t set foot in the United States, making it easier to remove lawful permanent residents who commit… https://t.co/lvlLrYLRJL

— Secretary Markwayne Mullin (@SecMullinDHS) June 25, 2026

He added, “They include barring aliens from applying for asylum if they haven’t set foot in the United States, making it easier to remove lawful permanent residents who commit a crime, and reaffirming that Temporary Protected Status was always meant to be TEMPORARY and can be cancelled at the appropriate time”.

He further said that the decisions will provide “tools” that will help in the management of the security of the nation. He said, “These decisions give us the tools we need to continue securing our nation”.

In a post on X, US Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche highlighted that the Supreme Court rulings upheld the Trump administration’s authority when it comes to the termination of the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian and Syrian nationals.

Today the Supreme Court upheld the Trump Administration’s clear authority to terminate Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands of Haitian and Syrian nationals.

The Department of Justice successfully defended the position that TPS was always meant to be temporary.…

— Acting AG Todd Blanche (@DAGToddBlanche) June 25, 2026

He said, “Today the Supreme Court upheld the Trump Administration’s clear authority to terminate Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands of Haitian and Syrian nationals”. He added, “The Department of Justice successfully defended the position that TPS was always meant to be temporary. This ruling rejects efforts to turn the program into a loophole abused by illegal aliens to remain in the United States.”

Furthermore, he said, “Proud of this department’s work to advance President Trump’s agenda of securing our borders and upholding the rule of law.”

According to the New York Post, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the Trump administration can enforce a policy known as “metering,” allowing border officials to limit the number of migrants permitted to seek asylum at ports of entry each day. The newspaper reported that the majority of migrants have not “arrived in” the United States until they physically enter the country.

Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito said, “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”. He added, “The context in which the phrase ‘arrives in the United States’ is used in the immigration statutes at issue here supports an ordinary-meaning reading”.

The New York Post reported that the Trump administration argued the policy was necessary to manage large numbers of migrants at the southern border and noted that those initially turned away could return later to seek asylum.

Reacting to the ruling, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said, “This is a tremendous win for the Trump Administration, the rule of law, and common sense”.

She added, “President Trump remains committed to lawfully restoring integrity to our immigration system, which includes tackling the egregious abuses to our asylum system that the prior administration encouraged. We will always put the American people first.”

The New York Post also reported that all three Democratic-appointed justices dissented. Justice Sonia Sotomayor read part of her dissent from the bench, saying the ruling “regrettably and tragically extinguishes the light of the torch of the Statue of Liberty.”

The newspaper noted that the metering policy was first introduced during the Obama administration in 2016, expanded nationwide under Trump’s first term, suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and formally rescinded by the Biden administration in 2021.

The same year, a California federal judge later ruled the policy unlawful, a decision that was affirmed by the Ninth Circuit before the Supreme Court reversed it. (ANI)