# Supreme Court upholds asylum metering and clears way to deport 350,000 TPS holders
> A 6-3 conservative majority ruled migrants physically in Mexico cannot apply for US asylum; a second 6-3 ruling strips Temporary Protected Status from Haitian and Syrian nationals

**Meta:** type: story · date: 2026-06-25 · heads: Who Decides, How Life Changes · 4 takes · 4 lenses · 3 regions

## Summary

The [Supreme Court](/en/entity/supreme-court) ruled 6-3 on June 25 to uphold [US](/en/entity/united-states) asylum metering policy, holding in Mullin v. Al Otro Lado that migrants physically present in Mexico at a port of entry have no cognisable right to apply for asylum under US statute. Justice Alito wrote the majority; Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson dissented. In a companion ruling the same day, the Court upheld termination of Temporary Protected Status for approximately 350,000 Haitian nationals and 6,100 Syrian nationals, clearing the way for deportation proceedings. Both cases were decided 6-3 along ideological lines.

## Why it matters

The two rulings together are the largest single-day contraction of US immigration protection in the modern era, removing both the port-of-entry asylum queue and TPS as lawful shields. [The Trump administration](/en/entity/donald-trump) gains a clear legal basis to deport a combined pool of roughly 356,000 people without further court injunctions.

## What to watch

- Whether federal district courts issue any individual TPS stays pending appeal.
- Haiti and Syria's capacity to receive mass deportees given each country's political and security situation.
- Whether the rulings accelerate or stall ongoing US-Mexico border talks on third-country deportation logistics.

## Regional takes (batched by bias / lens)

### unlabelled
- **Supreme Court of the United States (opinion, Mullin v. Al Otro Lado, No. 25-5)** (United States, en) — The 25 June 2026 majority opinion authored by Justice Alito holding that migrants physically present in Mexico at a US port of entry do not have a legally cognisable right to apply for asylum under 8 U.S.C. 1158, reversing the Ninth Circuit and reinstating the administration's metering policy.
  Source: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/25-5_86qd.pdf

### Canadian public broadcaster
- **CBC** (Canada, en) — Reports the 6-3 ruling upholding asylum metering and the companion TPS ruling covering approximately 350,000 Haitians and 6,100 Syrians; notes Justices Sotomayor, Kagan and Jackson dissented in both cases; frames the decisions as the largest single-day immigration loss in the modern era of US asylum law.
  > "The Supreme Court handed the Trump administration its most sweeping immigration victory yet, ruling 6-3 that migrants physically in Mexico have no right to apply for US asylum."
  Source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/us-supreme-court-asylum-ruling-june-25-2026-1.7578432

### non-aligned / Global South
- **Al Jazeera** (Qatar, en) — Frames the TPS ruling as the more immediately consequential: roughly 350,000 Haitian nationals and 6,100 Syrians lose protected status and become subject to removal proceedings. Quotes Haitian diaspora groups calling the ruling 'a death sentence' and notes Haiti's political collapse makes safe return untenable.
  > "Haitian diaspora groups called the ruling a 'death sentence' for roughly 350,000 people whose protected status is now stripped."
  Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/6/25/us-supreme-court-asylum-ruling-tps

### US public broadcaster
- **PBS NewsHour** (United States, en) — 
  Source: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/supreme-court-rules-on-asylum-metering-tps-june-2026

## Across the graph
- Related: [[trump-scotus-birthright-fed-rulings]]
- Entities: United States, Donald Trump, Supreme Court

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Canonical: https://rbtfl.xyz/en/n/scotus-asylum-metering-tps-jun25