Mullin v. Al Otro Lado · ¶123

The majority’s interpretation, on the other hand, renders the “arrives in” category entirely superfluous. On its reading, all individuals who “arriv[e] in the United States” have stepped foot onto U. S. territory and are therefore “a mere subset,” ibid., of the category of people who are “present in the United States.” This interpretation “thus runs afoul of the ‘cardinal principle’ of interpretation that courts ‘must give effect, if possible, to every clause and word of a statute.’” Id., at 358.

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