WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing Mullin v. Al Otro Lado, a case that examines policies regarding asylum seekers at U.S. ports of entry. This review brings renewed attention to the Refugee Act of 1980, authored by former U.S. congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman.
The Trump administration argued in Mullin v. Al Otro Lado that federal law allows for turning away asylum seekers before they reach the border. During oral arguments on March 24, Supreme Court justices questioned whether the statutory language regarding arrival in the United States restricts asylum applications specifically at ports of entry.
The Refugee Act of 1980 created a statutory framework for refugee admission and resettlement in the United States. The Act states, "The Attorney General shall establish a procedure for an alien physically present in the United States or at a land border or port of entry, irrespective of such alien's status, to apply for asylum." Congress passed the Act with bipartisan support in the House of Representatives, and the Senate voted unanimously for its passage.
The U.S. signed the 1967 Protocol to the Refugee Convention, which prohibits returning refugees to territories where their life or freedom would be threatened. The United Nations adopted the Refugee Convention on June 20, 1951. World Refugee Day is observed annually, and multiple past U.S. presidents have issued proclamations for it.
The implementation of the Act followed the fall of Saigon in 1975, which resulted in a refugee exodus from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. The Act established an asylum system to resettle these Southeast Asian refugees. Historically, President George Washington stated, "The bosom of America is open to receive not only the Opulent and the respectable stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all Nations and Religions."
A previous instance of denying entry to refugees occurred on June 6, 1939, when the passenger ship St. Louis arrived off the coast of Florida carrying 907 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany. U.S. authorities denied entry to the St. Louis while it was within U.S. territorial waters. U.S. Coast Guard vessels surrounded the ship to prevent passengers from attempting to swim ashore. The St. Louis returned to Europe, and 254 of its passengers later died in the Holocaust. The Trump administration implemented policies that reduced humanitarian relief, accelerated asylum deportations, and proposed admitting White Afrikaners as refugees.