The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Friday, November 13, 2026, to decide whether President Donald Trump may lawfully bar migrants who cross the southern border from applying for asylum — taking up one of the central legal fights over his immigration agenda, with a ruling expected by the end of June 2027.
The justices granted the government's appeal in Mullin v. Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES), No. 26-239, but limited their review to the first two questions in the petition: whether Proclamation 10888 and its implementing guidance are lawful, and whether a federal law — 8 U.S.C. 1252(f)(1) — bars the classwide relief a lower court granted. The Court declined to take up a third question challenging how the class of plaintiffs was defined.
The case reaches back to Trump's first day back in office. On January 20, 2025, he signed Proclamation 10888, "Guaranteeing the States Protection Against Invasion," which described migration at the southern border as an "invasion," suspended the entry of people crossing between official ports of entry, and barred them from invoking asylum and related protections until the president declares the invasion over. The administration credits the policy with helping drive border crossings down.
A federal judge in Washington found the restrictions unlawful, holding that the president had exceeded his authority because the Immigration and Nationality Act itself allows migrants to claim asylum. A divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld that ruling in April 2026, and the full D.C. Circuit denied rehearing on July 23, 2026.
For now, nothing changes on the ground. The asylum-related parts of the lower-court judgment have been stayed since August 2025, so the asylum bar for covered border crossers remains in effect while the justices consider the case. The Solicitor General, D. John Sauer, filed the government's petition on August 24, 2026.
Arguments are expected in the coming months, with a decision by the end of June 2027. The case joins a crowded immigration docket at the Court, which already holds a 6-3 conservative majority that has largely deferred to the administration on immigration: the justices are separately set to hear arguments on December 9 in a dispute over deporting migrants to countries other than their own.
For Arab families and asylum seekers in the United States, the ruling will settle a basic question that has been open since January 2025: whether a president, acting alone, can switch off the right to ask for asylum at the border — or whether only Congress can do that.
Sources: Reuters, CNN, Associated Press, U.S. Supreme Court docket No. 26-239.
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