Mullin v. Al Otro Lado · ¶142

More to the point, the majority’s recharacterization of the metering policy as a “mere delay” is immaterial to its holding. Neither the majority’s holding nor its analysis turns on whether immigration officials block noncitizens from stepping foot onto U. S. soil because of legitimate capacity issues at ports of entry, for other policy reasons, or for no reason at all. Nor does it matter whether a noncitizen’s entry was blocked for a few hours, a few months, or forever. As long as the Government successfully prevents noncitizens from crossing the threshold at the border, no matter how long they wait, the majority holds that the Government has no duty to inspect them and no duty to accept their asylum applications.

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