The Supreme Court said Friday it will take up a case involving President Trump’s effective ban on asylum claims at the border — perhaps the most critical tool in his unprecedented success in shutting off most illegal immigration across the U.S.-Mexico boundary.
The issue before the court is whether the government must let migrants file asylum petitions, even if the government has said it will deny them all.
A lower court said the law requires the applications.
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But Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the justices that would undo Mr. Trump’s success, which has seen border crossings drop by more than 90%, and would reopen the catch-and-release policies that led to the record migrant surge the country saw under President Joseph R. Biden.
“All of the progress above risks evaporating if the ruling below is allowed to take effect,” Mr. Sauer told the high court in asking it to take up the case.
The justices also announced they will hear a case over what information companies must disclose before they make initial public offerings.
The asylum case is part of a stream of immigration cases the high court is considering during Mr. Trump’s second term.
In its last term, the court shot down Mr. Trump’s attempt to limit birthright citizenship but allowed him to move forward with terminating Temporary Protected Status, an amnesty from deportation, for hundreds of thousands of migrants.
This term, the court has already scheduled cases on mandatory detention of some illegal immigrants and the standards the government must meet when it wants to deport people to countries other than their homes.
Both of those deal largely with arrests inside the U.S.
The asylum case the justices just added is more focused on the border.
Mr. Trump triggered the case with his Jan. 29, 2025, proclamation that the country was facing an “invasion” by illegal immigrants.
He flexed Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which lets him suspend broad categories of migrants when he deems their entry detrimental to the national interest.
The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that while Mr. Trump may have the power to reject the migrants’ petitions, his agencies must still allow them to be filed.
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