Al Otro Lado, a San Diego humanitarian group, has spent the last nine years fighting for asylum seekers' rights.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 against San Diego humanitarian organization Al Otro Lado in a case that could leave thousands more asylum seekers stranded in Mexico and unable to make their claims on U.S. soil.
The case, Mullin v. Al Otro Lado, was filed against the Department of Homeland Security in 2017. Al Otro Lado argued asylum seekers should be allowed to set foot into the U.S. to make their claim, but recent crackdowns have left thousands stranded in Mexico.
However, in his Opinion of the Court , Justice Samuel Alito wrote, "An [immigrant] standing in Mexico does not "arriv[e] in the United States," meaning they won't be entitled to the U.S.'s laws granting asylum seekers processing rights.
The Department of Homeland Security said Thursday's ruling gives them more tools to continue securing the border.
Al Otro Lado was in Washington, D.C., for Thursday's decision. Border Rights Project Director Nicole Elizabeth Ramos said the ruling was not surprising, but devastating.
"So the decision today to deny access to the legal process established by Congress over 40 years ago to many black and brown refugees comes as no surprise," Ramos said.
Ramos warned of the human cost of the ruling.
"Not one of those justices has been down to the border. I think we all know the practical impact. People are going to die," Ramos said.
Al Otro Lado argues the ruling ends a century-old requirement to inspect everyone at ports of entry, reversing decades of asylum law that protected vulnerable people from dangerous circumstances, including kidnapping, rape, murder, and deaths from border falls or heatstroke.
"Just because we cannot provide a prospective body count does not make that reality any less real," Ramos said.
Advocates worry that a system deemed unlawful in 2021 — known as metering — will be reinstated. Metering turns away asylum seekers once a daily limit for the number of people entering the U.S. has been reached.
Ramos also raised concerns about U.S. funding of border enforcement in Mexico.
"The U.S. government is going to continue to give millions and billions of dollars to Mexico to police the southern border and create structures and barriers to ensure that asylum seekers can never come face to face with a CBP officer," Ramos said.
Al Otro Lado and their partners say they will continue to fight and are calling on Congress to clarify the asylum statute further. They are also urging both representatives and the administration to visit the border and see the impacts of the decision for themselves.
