Mullin v. Al Otro Lado · ¶185

Our lack of any factual basis for understanding these critical points was apparent at oral argument. There were multiple questions, for instance, about the rate at which immigration officials can process noncitizens at ports of entry. That rate might indicate how far into Mexican territory a noncitizen subject to metering must wait in line before he can present an asylum claim to an immigration officer. See Tr. of Oral Arg. 70–72. The answer, in turn, might affect our conclusions about when the noncitizen is deemed to have “arrive[d] in” the United States under §§1158(a)(1) and 1225(a)(1). Without such an answer, the Court interprets those provisions in a vacuum—an unreliable endeavor at best.

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