Feed aggregator

The Supreme Court handed President Donald Trump a significant immigration victory on Thursday, ruling that federal officials may turn away migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border before they formally apply for asylum. The 6-3 decision upheld the legality of the “metering” policy, a border management practice that sparked a rare and pointed public exchange between members of the nation’s highest court.

The ruling allows the government to continue limiting the number of migrants permitted to seek asylum at ports of entry on any given day. The policy, known as metering, was implemented during both the Obama and Trump administrations as a way to manage overwhelming numbers of asylum seekers arriving at the southern border.

Groups representing immigrants argued that migrants should be considered to have “arrived” in the United States the moment they reach the border. They maintained that federal immigration law guarantees the right to apply for asylum upon arrival, regardless of whether an individual entered the country legally or illegally.

Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito rejected that interpretation.

“In ordinary speech, no one would say that a person ‘arrives in’ a place—for example, a house, a city, or a country—before the person enters that place.

“The context in which the phrase ‘arrives in the United States’ is used in the immigration statutes at issue here supports an ordinary-meaning reading.”

The Trump administration argued that the policy was a practical necessity during periods of heavy migration, noting that individuals who were turned away temporarily were free to return later and attempt to apply again.

“This is a tremendous win for the Trump Administration, the rule of law, and common sense,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement. “President Trump remains committed to lawfully restoring integrity to our immigration system, which includes tackling the egregious abuses to our asylum system that the prior administration encouraged. We will always put the American people first.”

Under U.S. law, asylum is available only to migrants who can demonstrate a well-founded fear of persecution in their home country based on factors such as race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.

Those who receive asylum protection are allowed to remain in the United States, obtain work authorization, petition to bring immediate family members, pursue permanent residency, and eventually apply for American citizenship.

The Court’s three liberal justices dissented. Justice Sonia Sotomayor took the unusual step of reading her dissent aloud from the bench and added remarks criticizing the majority’s ruling.

She said the decision “regrettably and tragically extinguishes the light of the torch of the Statue of Liberty.”

In her written dissent, Sotomayor warned of what she believes will be the human cost of the Court’s decision.

“The consequences of today’s decision are predictable,” Sotomayor wrote. “More people will die. More people will attempt to cross the border illegally, and some will make it while others will not. More people will be forced to walk along the U.S.-Mexico border in dangerous conditions, trying to find a port that will inspect them. More people will turn back and be subjected to violence because of something they cannot or should not have to change about themselves … Because this is neither what Congress said nor what its words permit, I respectfully dissent.”

Alito responded afterward, noting that he would have expanded his own remarks had he known Sotomayor intended to read her dissent from the bench. He also emphasized that the challenged policy had been employed by administrations from both major political parties.

“I won’t add anything more to that,” concluded Alito, who finished his opinion by reminding: “The wisdom of the policy of metering alien arrivals at the southern border is not before us. We decide only that an alien standing in Mexico does not ‘arriv[e] in the United States.’ The [law] neither entitles such an alien to apply for asylum nor requires an immigration officer to inspect him.”

Metering first appeared in 2016 under President Barack Obama after a surge of Haitian migrants reached the San Diego port of entry from Tijuana. During President Trump’s administration, the practice was expanded across all ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The policy ended in 2020 when stricter border restrictions were imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic. President Joe Biden later officially rescinded the metering policy in 2021.

That same year, a federal judge in California ruled that metering violated both federal asylum law and the rights of asylum seekers. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision, although nearly half of the court’s active judges voted in favor of rehearing the case, signaling deep disagreement that ultimately paved the way for Supreme Court review.

{Matzav.com}

Rav Shmuel Betzalel, a member of the Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah of Shas and rosh yeshivah of Yeshivas Porat Yosef, delivered an emotional message of chizuk to bnei yeshivah and avreichim being held in Military Prison 10, declaring that they are being treated as criminals solely because of their commitment to Torah study.

The remarks were broadcast through loudspeakers placed outside the entrance to the military prison, allowing the detained bnei Torah to hear words of support from the senior Torah leader while they remained behind bars.

Opening his address, Rav Betzalel spoke directly to the imprisoned students and described their incarceration as a consequence of their devotion to Torah.

“Dear young men, imprisoned because you are students engaged in Torah. Dear avreichim, more precious than gold, occupied with the holy Torah, whose only crime is involvement in the holy Torah,” he said. “In these days, when even Israel’s friends have turned their backs, turning their backs on our nation, we must feel the meaning of ‘a nation that dwells alone,’ and realize that the merit and very existence of the Jewish people rests upon the holy Torah.”

Rav Betzalel lamented what he described as a dramatic reversal from previous generations, saying Torah scholars are now being treated like lawbreakers despite their central role in sustaining the Jewish people.

“For eighty years in the Holy Land of Israel, everyone understood that Torah learners are the foundation of the Jewish people. And now we are being shaken and persecuted—persecuted—and today we are under arrest and regarded as criminals and offenders for sitting in detention. And the entire crime and offense is the study of the holy Torah.”

The rosh yeshivah stressed that Torah remains the source of life and continuity for the Jewish nation and accused those seeking to draft full-time Torah scholars of failing to appreciate that reality.

He declared that the Torah is “the house of our lives,” adding that it “sustains life for the Jewish people and their continued existence.” He also criticized those promoting the current policies, saying, “We know that those who are distant want to abolish the holy Torah. They do not understand what the Jewish people are.”

Turning once again to the detainees, Rav Betzalel encouraged them to take strength from their circumstances and view themselves as serving a higher purpose.

“And you, the prisoners—the prisoners of the holy Torah—who are imprisoned for the sanctification of Hashem’s Name, Hashem is with you, mighty warriors. Bear your imprisonment proudly, and may Hashem bless all those who have come to identify with the holy Torah, to sustain the Jewish people.”

He went on to emphasize that the future of the Jewish people depends entirely on Torah, warning against efforts to weaken its central place in Jewish life.

“Without the holy Torah, the Jewish people would not exist, and they want, chas v’shalom, to erase the Torah of Yisrael Saba and the Jewish people,” he said, reflecting the widely held view in the Torah world that Torah study provides the nation’s ultimate spiritual protection.

Rav Betzalel also urged the imprisoned students to preserve their spiritual strength despite their confinement.

“I also turn to the avreichim and the bochurim who are behind bars there in the prisons: Maintain the spirit of genuine yiras Shamayim, just as you conducted yourselves within the holy yeshivah. At the same time, let your spirit and your hearts be uplifted in the ways of the holy Torah.”

He reminded the detainees that they were not alone, describing them as representatives of the entire Torah world.

“Feel, feel that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is with you. That you are prisoners and emissaries of the entire Torah world and of the Torah itself,” Rav Betzalel said. His remarks came amid ongoing visits by rabbanim and public officials to Military Prison 10 to encourage the detainees.

Concluding his address, Rav Betzalel expressed solidarity with the imprisoned students and offered a prayer for the future of the Jewish people.

“We are all proud of you, we support you, and we pray, with Hashem’s help, that all our distant brothers will have the love of Torah placed into their hearts by the Holy One, Blessed be He, because that is what defines this nation.”

He ended by reiterating what he described as the central message of his remarks: “The public must know that without Torah there is no Jewish people. With Hashem’s help, the children will return to the spirit of Torah and Yisrael Saba, and the Redeemer will come, with Hashem’s help, and remove this persecution from upon us.”

{Matzav.com}