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No. 10160326
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Al Otro Lado v. Alejandro Mayorkas
No. 10160326 · Decided October 23, 2024
No. 10160326·Ninth Circuit · 2024·
FlawFinder last updated this page Apr. 2, 2026
Case Details
Court
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Decided
October 23, 2024
Citation
No. 10160326
Disposition
See opinion text.
Full Opinion
FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
AL OTRO LADO, a California Nos. 22-55988
corporation; ABIGAIL DOE; 22-56036
BEATRICE DOE; CAROLINA DOE;
DINORA DOE; INGRID DOE; D.C. No.
URSULA DOE; VICTORIA DOE; 3:17-cv-02366-
BIANCA DOE; JUAN DOE; BAS-KSC
ROBERTO DOE; CESAR DOE;
MARIA DOE; EMILIANA DOE,
individually and on behalf of all others OPINION
similarly situated,
Plaintiffs-Appellees /
Cross-Appellants,
v.
EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR
IMMIGRATION REVIEW,
Appellant / Cross-
Appellee,
and
ALEJANDRO N. MAYORKAS,
Secretary of Homeland Security;
CHRISTOPHER MAGNUS,
Commissioner of U.S. Customs and
2 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
Border Protection (CBP); PETE
FLORES, Executive Assistant
Commissioner of CBP’s Office of
Field Operations, in their official
capacities,
Defendants-Appellants /
Cross-Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of California
Cynthia A. Bashant, District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted November 28, 2023
San Diego Carter & Keep U.S. Courthouse
Filed October 23, 2024
Before: John B. Owens, Michelle T. Friedland, and Ryan
D. Nelson, Circuit Judges.
Opinion by Judge Friedland;
Dissent by Judge R. Nelson
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 3
SUMMARY *
Immigration
The panel affirmed in part and vacated in part the district
court’s permanent injunction relating to the application of
the “Asylum Transit Rule”—which generally required
persons traveling through a third country to apply for asylum
there before seeking asylum in the United States—to
noncitizens turned away at the border between Mexico and
the United States under the policy of “metering.”
Under the metering policy, whenever border officials
deemed a port of entry to be at capacity, they turned away
all people lacking valid travel documents. The district court
entered a permanent injunction prohibiting application of the
Asylum Transit Rule to members of a class of asylum
seekers who were turned away under the metering policy
before the Asylum Transit Rule took effect. The court also
ordered the Government to unwind past denials of asylum to
such individuals.
The panel affirmed the district court’s conclusion that the
metering policy violated section 706(1) of the
Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), which provides that
a court shall “compel agency action unlawfully withheld or
unreasonably delayed.”
The Government contended that officials lack any duty
to noncitizens who have not stepped across the border.
Rejecting that argument, the panel held that a noncitizen
*
This summary constitutes no part of the opinion of the court. It has
been prepared by court staff for the convenience of the reader.
4 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
stopped at the border is eligible to apply for asylum under 8
U.S.C. § 1158(a)(1), which provides that a noncitizen may
apply for asylum if she is “physically present in the United
States” or “arrives in the United States.” The panel
concluded that the latter encompasses those stopped at the
border, whichever side they are standing on.
The panel also held that such a noncitizen is an
“applicant for admission” under 8 U.S.C. § 1225, which sets
out the responsibilities of officials with respect to
noncitizens at the border. Accordingly, border officials have
a mandatory duty to inspect them. The panel explained that
the presumption against extraterritorial application of
statutes did not change its interpretation of § 1158 or § 1225.
As to § 706(1) of the APA, the panel held that when an
agency refuses to accept, in any form, a request that it take a
required action, it has “withheld” that duty. Explaining that
officials turned away noncitizens without taking any steps to
keep track of them or otherwise allow them to open asylum
applications, the panel concluded that the metering policy
constituted withholding of action, not delay.
The panel wrote that it need not reach Plaintiffs’ cross-
appeal of the district court’s denial of their other claims. The
panel also vacated the district court’s entry of judgment for
Plaintiffs on their due process claim, explaining that when a
constitutional holding is unnecessary, the court may simply
vacate that portion of the judgment without discussing the
merits.
Next, the panel affirmed the district court’s entry of
classwide declaratory relief. As the Government conceded,
precedent foreclosed its argument that classwide declaratory
relief is barred by 8 U.S.C. § 1252(f)(1), which provides that
“no court (other than the Supreme Court) shall have
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 5
jurisdiction or authority to enjoin or restrain the operation”
of specified immigration statutes on a classwide basis.
The panel affirmed the grant of negative injunctive
relief, which prohibits the Government from applying the
Asylum Transit Rule to class members. The panel
concluded that this relief was not barred by § 1252(f)(1)
because it concerns § 1158, which is not covered by
§ 1252(f)(1).
The panel concluded that § 1252(f)(1) does not bar the
components of the district court’s affirmative relief requiring
the Government to identify possible class members and
notify them about their class membership and the
significance of the injunction. However, the panel held that
§ 1252(f)(1) barred the portion requiring the Government,
on its own initiative, to reopen or reconsider a prior
decision.
Dissenting, Judge R. Nelson concluded that an alien
“arrives in the United States” only when she crosses the
border into it and that the majority’s interpretation of that
phrase twists the statutory language, ignores history, flips
multiple presumptions, and ignores common-sense English
usage. In doing so, the majority imposes on the federal
government—for the first time—an obligation to interview
asylum seekers who are still in Mexico.
Judge R. Nelson also wrote that the majority erroneously
concluded that the government “withheld” a statutory duty
(rather than merely delaying it) by telling aliens to come
back later. In his view, the panel should have rejected
Plaintiffs’ claims, including those that the majority saved for
another day.
6 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
COUNSEL
Melissa E. Crow (argued), Center for Gender and Refugee
Studies, Washington, D.C.; Neela O. Chakravartula and
Anne Dutton, Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, San
Francisco, California; Robert Pauw, Center for Gender and
Refugee Studies, Seattle, Washington; Baher Azmy (argued)
and Angelo Guisado, Center For Constitutional Rights, New
York, New York; Rebecca M. Cassler, Southern Poverty
Law Center, Immigrant Justice Project, Washington, D.C.;
Sarah Rich, Southern Poverty Law Center, Decatur,
Georgia; Matthew Fenn, Mayer Brown LLP, Chicago,
Illinois; Matthew H. Marmolejo, Mayer Brown LLP, Los
Angeles, California; Michelle N. Webster and Ori Lev,
Mayer Brown LLP, Washington, D.C.; Stephen M.
Medlock, Evan Miller, and Rami Abdallah E. Rashmawi,
Vinson & Elkins LLP, Washington, D.C.; Katherine M.
Goettel, Gianna Borroto, and Suchita Mathur, American
Immigration Counsel, Washington, D.C.; for Plaintiffs-
Appellees.
Alexander J. Halaska (argued) and Katherine J. Shinners,
Senior Litigation Counsel; Jason Wisecup, Assistant United
States Attorney; Samuel P. Go, Assistant Director; Erez
Reuveni, Counsel; William C. Peachey, Director; Office of
Immigration Litigation; Brian M. Boynton, Principal Deputy
Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division; United States
Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.; for Appellant and
Defendants-Appellants.
Aileen M. McGrath, Morrison & Forester, San Francsico,
California, for Amicus Curiae Amnesty International.
Wendy Wylegala, Kids in Need of Defense, New York, New
York; Alexander J. Cooper, Kids in Need of Defense, Los
Angeles, California; Jane Liu, Young Center for Immigrant
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 7
Children's Rights, Chicago, Illinois; Stephany Arzaga, Legal
Services for Children, San Francisco, California; Mary T.
Ross, Public Counsel, Los Angeles, California; for Amici
Curiae Kids in Need of Defense, Legal Services for
Children, Inc., Public Counsel, and The Young Center for
Immigrant Children's Rights.
Katrina Eiland, Stephen Kang, Spencer E. Wittmann Amdur,
Cody Wofsy, and Oscar S. Roman, American Civil Liberties
Union, San Francisco, California; Omar Jadwat, Lee
Gelernt, and Anand Balakrishnan, American Civil Liberties
Union, New York, New York; for Amici Curiae American
Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Southern California, ACLU
of Northern California; and Northwest Immigrant Rights
Project.
Sabrineh Ardalan and Tiffany J. Lieu, Supervising
Attorneys; Sarah Leadem and Simone Wallk, Supervised
Law Students; Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical
Program, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Sarah Sherman-
Stokes, Supervising Attorney; Catherine Kannam,
Supervised Law Student; Immigrants’ Rights and Human
Trafficking Program, Boston University School of Law,
Boston, Massachusetts; for Amici Curiae International
Refugee Law Scholars.
Anne Aufhauser, Sarah F. Warren, and Alison Goldman,
Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP, New York,
New York, for Amici Curiae Haitian bridge Alliance, Ira
Kurzban, and Irwin Stotzky.
Raechel K. Kummer, Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP,
Washington, D.C.; Matthew C. McDonough and Andrew
Savage, Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP, Boston,
Massachusetts; for Amici Curiae Immigration Law
Professors.
8 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
OPINION
FRIEDLAND, Circuit Judge:
In 2016, Customs and Border Protection adopted a
policy of “metering” asylum seekers at ports of entry along
the border between Mexico and the United States. Under
that policy, whenever border officials deemed a port of entry
to be at capacity, they turned away all people lacking valid
travel documents. Many of those people intended to seek
asylum in the United States but were not allowed to even
apply. They could try to come back some other time, but
there was no guarantee that they would ever be processed.
The immigrant rights group Al Otro Lado and various
individuals filed suit in federal district court challenging that
metering policy on behalf of classes of asylum seekers.
While the litigation was ongoing, the Government adopted a
regulation, known as the “Asylum Transit Rule,” that
generally required persons traveling through a third country
to apply for asylum there before seeking asylum in the
United States. For many asylum seekers who already had
been turned away under the metering policy, the Asylum
Transit Rule effectively barred them from qualifying for
asylum if they were ever able to apply—even though they
would not have been subject to the Rule if they had been
processed when they first presented themselves at the
border.
The district court ultimately declared the metering policy
to be unlawful. As part of the remedy, the district court
enjoined the Government from applying the Asylum Transit
Rule to noncitizens turned away under the metering policy
before the Rule’s adoption. The court also ordered the
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 9
Government to unwind past denials of asylum to such
individuals.
We must evaluate the lawfulness of the metering policy
to decide whether to uphold the district court’s remedy, even
though the Government rescinded the metering policy years
ago. We largely affirm.
I.
Under federal law, asylum protects noncitizens who face
persecution in their home countries because of their race,
religion, nationality, membership in a particular social
group, or political opinion. 8 U.S.C. §§ 1158(b)(1)(A),
1101(a)(42)(A). A noncitizen is eligible to apply for asylum
if she is “physically present in the United States” or if she
“arrives in the United States.” Id. § 1158(a)(1).
People seeking to lawfully enter the United States via the
southern border generally must present themselves for
processing at a designated port of entry. 8 C.F.R. § 235.1(a).
By statute, immigration officials are required to inspect all
noncitizens “present in the United States who [have] not
been admitted,” noncitizens who “arrive[] in the United
States,” and noncitizens “otherwise seeking admission.” 8
U.S.C. § 1225(a)(1), (3). If, during inspection at a port of
entry, a noncitizen expresses an intent to apply for asylum or
a fear of persecution, the inspecting border official must
refer the noncitizen to an asylum officer for an interview to
determine whether the noncitizen has a credible fear of
persecution. Id. § 1225(b)(1)(A)(ii), (B). Otherwise, and if
the noncitizen is inadmissible within the meaning of the
statute, the official shall order her removed “without further
hearing or review.” Id. § 1225(b)(1)(A)(i).
10 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
Until 2016, noncitizens seeking asylum at ports of entry
on the U.S.-Mexico border would cross over onto U.S. soil
and then wait in line to be inspected. In 2016, citing capacity
constraints, Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”)
officials began taking steps to prevent asylum seekers from
entering port buildings or otherwise joining an inspection
queue. In November 2016, the Department of Homeland
Security (“DHS”), which includes CBP, approved
“metering,” allowing border officials who deemed a port of
entry to be at capacity to turn away all people lacking valid
travel documents. CBP gave ports of entry flexibility to
implement metering based on “what [worked] best
operationally and whether it [was] required on any given day
or [at] any specific location.” At some ports of entry, people
were stepping onto U.S. soil before being turned back. CBP
soon determined that it could not send such people back to
Mexico without processing them, so it directed officials to
implement metering at “the actual boundary line.” Officials
standing on the U.S. side of the border therefore stopped
people right before they crossed the border.
The Government formalized its metering policy in the
spring of 2018. In an April 2018 guidance memorandum,
CBP authorized border officials to “meter the flow of
travelers at the land border” based on “the port’s processing
capacity.” The memorandum specifically permitted officials
to “establish and operate physical access controls at the
borderline.” It further stated that officers “may not provide
tickets or appointments or otherwise schedule any person for
entry” and that “[o]nce a traveler is in the United States, he
or she must be fully processed.” The DHS Secretary
publicly explained that the metering policy meant “that if we
don’t have the resources to let them in on a particular day,
they are going to have to come back.” A June 2018 guidance
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 11
memorandum from the DHS Secretary stated that the agency
was prioritizing other components of its mission, such as
national security and trade, above “[p]rocessing persons
without documents required by law for admission arriving at
the Southwest Border.”
Due to the metering policy, asylum seekers began to
accumulate on the Mexico side of the border. Many camped
near the bridges at ports of entry. In an attempt to impose
some order, Mexican government officials and nonprofits
made lists of people waiting to be processed. U.S. border
officials sometimes coordinated informally with those
keeping lists, but they did not keep lists of their own.
Asylum seekers waited in Mexico for days, weeks, or
months. Many were subject to persecution and crime, and
they often lacked adequate food and shelter. Some were
murdered in Mexico while waiting for an opportunity to be
processed by U.S. officials. Some attempted to reach U.S.
soil by other means, such as running down vehicle lanes at
ports of entry, so that they could apply for asylum. Others,
including young children, tried to swim across the Rio
Grande River and drowned.
The immigrant rights organization Al Otro Lado, Inc.,
and thirteen individual asylum seekers (collectively
“Plaintiffs”) challenged the lawfulness of the metering
policy in a putative class action in the United States District
Court for the Southern District of California. They named
as defendants the DHS Secretary, the CBP Commissioner,
and the Executive Assistant Commissioner of CBP’s Office
of Field Operations (collectively “the Government”).
Plaintiffs asserted five claims, each presenting a different
legal theory for why the metering policy was unlawful. One
claim alleged that metering violated § 706(1) of the
12 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), which prohibits
agencies from unlawfully withholding or unreasonably
delaying action that they are required by law to take.
Another claim alleged that the Government violated
§ 706(2) of the APA by acting “in excess of [its] statutorily
prescribed authority.” Plaintiffs also alleged that metering
violated the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”), the
Alien Tort Statute, and the Due Process Clause of the Fifth
Amendment. Plaintiffs sought the same relief for each
claim: classwide declaratory and injunctive relief ending the
Government’s metering policy. 1
The Government moved to dismiss the Complaint, and
the district court denied the motion in relevant part. Al Otro
Lado, Inc. v. McAleenan, 394 F. Supp. 3d 1168 (S.D. Cal.
2019).
At around the same time, DHS and the Department of
Justice jointly adopted the Asylum Transit Rule as an interim
final rule. That Rule rendered ineligible for asylum nearly
any noncitizen “who enter[ed], attempt[ed] to enter, or
arrive[d] in the United States across the southern land border
on or after July 16, 2019, after transiting through at least one
country” unless she first applied for protection in that other
country and received a final denial. Asylum Eligibility and
Procedural Modifications, 84 Fed. Reg. 33829, 33843
(July 16, 2019), codified at 8 C.F.R. § 208.13(c)(4) (2019).
1
In addition to challenging the metering policy, Plaintiffs alleged that
border officials used misrepresentations, threats, and coercion to deny
noncitizens the opportunity to seek asylum. On appeal, the parties do
not raise issues related to those other allegations and instead focus only
on the formalized metering policy. We therefore also focus only on that
policy.
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 13
Plaintiffs moved for provisional class certification and
for a preliminary injunction blocking application of the
Asylum Transit Rule to the provisional class. They asserted
that, without an injunction, tens of thousands of people who
had been turned away under the metering policy would be
denied asylum under the Asylum Transit Rule. Plaintiffs
argued that people unable to seek asylum because of the
metering policy should not be subjected to asylum rules that
they would not have faced had they been processed when
they first presented themselves at the border. The district
court provisionally certified a “Preliminary Injunction
Class” (“P.I. class”), represented by named Plaintiff Roberto
Doe, consisting of “all non-Mexican asylum-seekers who
were unable to make a direct asylum claim at a U.S. [port of
entry] before July 16, 2019[,] because of the U.S.
Government’s metering policy, and who continue to seek
access to the U.S. asylum process.” The court granted the
requested preliminary injunction as to that class.
The court later clarified that the preliminary injunction
required the Government to reopen past denials of class
members’ asylum applications that were based on the
Asylum Transit Rule. The court also clarified that the
preliminary injunction bound the Executive Office of
Immigration Review (“EOIR”), which is the division of the
Department of Justice that includes immigration judges
(“IJs”) and the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”).
Although EOIR was not a named defendant, the court held
that EOIR was bound by the injunction because it operated
in concert with the named defendants. 2
2
The Government filed two interlocutory appeals regarding the
preliminary injunction. The first appeal challenged the district court’s
14 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
A final version of the Asylum Transit Rule took effect in
January 2021. See Asylum Eligibility and Procedural
Modifications, 85 Fed. Reg. 82260 (Dec. 17, 2020). The
accompanying statement in the Federal Register
“clari[fied]” that DHS and the Department of Justice
intended the Rule to apply to noncitizens subject to metering
prior to the Rule’s promulgation. Id. at 82268 & n.22. The
district court entered a temporary restraining order against
application of the Final Rule to members of the P.I. class.
The parties stipulated to the conversion of that temporary
restraining order into a second preliminary injunction.
As the litigation progressed, the district court certified an
additional class consisting of “all noncitizens who seek or
will seek to access the U.S. asylum process by presenting
themselves at a Class A [port of entry] on the U.S.-Mexico
border, and were or will be denied access to the U.S. asylum
process by or at the instruction of [CBP] officials on or after
January 1, 2016.”
The parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment.
The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the
Government on the INA and Alien Tort Statute claims. It
granted summary judgment in favor of Plaintiffs on the APA
initial entry of the preliminary injunction. Our court denied a stay
pending appeal, noting without deciding that Plaintiffs’ statutory
analysis was “likely correct.” Al Otro Lado v. Wolf, 952 F.3d 999, 1013-
16 (9th Cir. 2020). The second appeal challenged the district court’s
order clarifying the scope of the preliminary injunction. We again
denied a stay pending appeal. Order, Al Otro Lado v. Wolf, No. 20-
56287 (9th Cir. Jan. 14, 2021), ECF No. 30. Both interlocutory appeals
were later dismissed as moot when the district court entered final
judgment. Al Otro Lado v. Wolf, No. 19-56417, 2022 WL 15399693 (9th
Cir. Sept. 20, 2022); Al Otro Lado v. Wolf, No. 20-56287, 2022 WL
17369223 (9th Cir. Sept. 20, 2022).
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 15
§ 706(1) and due process claims and concluded that it did
not need to reach the APA § 706(2) claim. It then ordered
the parties to brief the appropriate remedy.
Shortly thereafter, in November 2021, CBP rescinded
the metering policy. CBP issued new guidance stating that
“[a]bsent a [port of entry] closure, officers . . . may not
instruct travelers that they must return to the [port of entry]
at a later time.”
About a year after the district court ruled on the parties’
summary judgment motions, it entered declaratory and
injunctive relief in favor of Plaintiffs and entered final
judgment. The declaratory relief stated that the “denial of
inspection or asylum processing to [noncitizens] who have
not been admitted or paroled, and who are in the process of
arriving in the United States at Class A Ports of Entry, is
unlawful regardless of the purported justification for doing
so.”
The court entered permanent injunctive relief as to the
P.I. class. The permanent injunction replaced the two
preliminary injunctions and similarly prohibited the
application of the Asylum Transit Rule to members of the
P.I. class. The district court’s permanent injunction order
further clarified the scope of the Government’s obligations
under the injunction by summarizing (and largely
approving) the Government’s ongoing efforts to comply
with the preliminary injunctions. Those efforts included
identifying possible class members, notifying them of the
injunction, and reopening and reconsidering P.I. class
members’ asylum denials that were based on the Asylum
Transit Rule.
The parties timely cross-appealed. We heard oral
argument at the end of November 2023. The parties then
16 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
engaged in six months of mediation, but their efforts to reach
a settlement ultimately failed.
II.
The district court exercised jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C.
§ 1331. We have jurisdiction over this appeal under 28
U.S.C. § 1291. 3
“We review legal questions de novo.” Romero v.
Garland, 7 F.4th 838, 840 (9th Cir. 2021). We review the
scope of a permanent injunction for abuse of discretion.
United States v. Washington, 853 F.3d 946, 962 (9th Cir.
2017). “A district court abuses its discretion when it makes
an error of law.” Native Ecosystems Council v. Marten, 883
F.3d 783, 789 (9th Cir. 2018).
III.
Section 706(1) of the Administrative Procedure Act
provides that a court shall “compel agency action unlawfully
withheld or unreasonably delayed.” 5 U.S.C. § 706(1). A
claim under § 706(1) can reach only “discrete agency
action” that an agency is “required to take.” Norton v. S.
Utah Wilderness All., 542 U.S. 55, 64 (2004) (emphasis
omitted). The Government acknowledges that border
officials have a mandatory duty to process noncitizens,
including allowing them to apply for asylum. But the
3
The rescission of the metering policy does not render this case moot
because Plaintiffs sought (and the district court entered) equitable relief
to ameliorate past and present harms stemming from the policy, and the
relief ordered imposes ongoing obligations on the Government. Because
that relief could be modified, it is possible for us to “grant any effectual
relief whatever to the prevailing party,” preventing this appeal from
being moot. Edmo v. Corizon, Inc., 935 F.3d 757, 782 (9th Cir. 2019)
(quoting Shell Offshore Inc. v. Greenpeace, Inc., 815 F.3d 623, 628 (9th
Cir. 2016)).
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 17
Government contends that the metering policy did not
violate § 706(1) because border officials lack any duty to
noncitizens who have not stepped across the border. The
Government also contends that even if the officials’
mandatory duty extends to such noncitizens, the metering
policy did not constitute withholding of that duty within the
meaning of § 706(1).
We disagree on both fronts.
A.
The extent of the Government’s duty turns on two
interacting statutes. One statute, 8 U.S.C. § 1158, defines
the rights of noncitizens to apply for asylum. Another
statute, 8 U.S.C. § 1225, governs the obligations of border
officials to process noncitizens. We begin with the statute
defining the right to apply for asylum because, as a practical
matter, the Government’s obligation to process a noncitizen
stopped at the border only matters here if that noncitizen is
eligible to apply for asylum. We agree with Plaintiffs that a
noncitizen stopped at the border is eligible to apply for
asylum under § 1158. We next conclude that a border
official must process such a noncitizen under § 1225. We
reject the Government’s contrary interpretations, including
its argument based on the presumption that statutes do not
apply extraterritorially.
1.
The right of a noncitizen to apply for asylum is codified
at 8 U.S.C. § 1158(a)(1), which states that:
Any alien who is physically present in the
United States or who arrives in the United
States (whether or not at a designated port of
18 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
arrival and including an alien who is brought
to the United States after having been
interdicted in international or United States
waters), irrespective of such alien’s status,
may apply for asylum.
The parties agree that a noncitizen stopped by officials right
at the border is not yet “physically present in the United
States.” They disagree about whether such a person is
covered by the language “arrives in the United States.”
In the Government’s view, a noncitizen stopped on the
United States’ doorstep is not eligible to apply for asylum
because she is not covered by the phrase “arrives in the
United States.” The Government’s position is that one only
“arrives in the United States” upon stepping across the
border.
The Government improperly reads a fragment of
statutory text in isolation. “Statutory language ‘cannot be
construed in a vacuum. It is a fundamental canon of
statutory construction that the words of a statute must be read
in their context and with a view to their place in the overall
statutory scheme.’” Sturgeon v. Frost, 577 U.S. 424, 438
(2016) (quoting Roberts v. Sea-Land Servs., Inc., 566 U.S.
93, 101 (2012)). And another “cardinal principle of statutory
construction [is] that we must ‘give effect, if possible, to
every clause and word of a statute.’” 4 Williams v. Taylor,
4
The dissent criticizes our consideration of these commonsense canons
of statutory interpretation as “skip[ping]” a step, Dissent at 49, but until
we look at the language of the provision—the whole provision—and
figure out what it means, we cannot simply announce that Congress
“says in [the] statute what it means and means in [the] statute what it
says,” Conn. Nat’l Bank v. Germain, 503 U.S. 249, 254 (1992). Contrary
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 19
529 U.S. 362, 404 (2000) (quoting United States v.
Menasche, 348 U.S. 528, 538-39 (1955)). Section
1158(a)(1) covers a noncitizen who is either “physically
present in the United States or who arrives in the United
States” (emphasis added). 5 We therefore must endeavor to
give the phrase “arrives in the United States” a meaning that
is not completely subsumed within the phrase “physically
present in the United States.” See Sale v. Haitian Ctrs.
Council, Inc., 509 U.S. 155, 174 (1993) (refusing to adopt
an interpretation of the word “return” that would make the
word “deport” redundant in another INA statute that uses
both words). The Government’s interpretation fails to do so
because it reads the phrase “arrives in the United States” to
to the dissent, Dissent at 49 n.1, our reliance on context here neither
replaces the statute’s ordinary meaning nor imposes a meaning it cannot
bear. See King v. Burwell, 576 U.S. 473, 486 (2015) (“[O]ftentimes the
‘meaning—or ambiguity—of certain words or phrases may only become
evident when placed in context.’” (quoting FDA v. Brown & Williamson
Tobacco Corp., 529 U.S. 120, 132 (2000))).
5
The dissent engages in a corpus linguistics analysis even though no
party or amicus made a corpus linguistics argument in this case. Whether
or not this could be a helpful interpretive methodology, the relevant
question to ask the database would be how the phrase “physically present
in the United States or who arrives in the United States” has been used.
Because the corpus linguistics database tool is incapable of performing
this search, it has limited utility in this case. The dissent’s narrow focus
on the two words “arrives in,” Dissent at 50-55, wrenches these words
out of the context in which they are used in the statute, see Sturgeon, 577
U.S. at 438; Abuelhawa v. United States, 556 U.S. 816, 819 (2009)
(“[S]tatutes are not read as a collection of isolated phrases.”). We also
note that the database the dissent consults does not contain statutes,
which would seem to limit any value it has for determining how
Congress uses particular terms. See, e.g., Peter v. Nantkwest, Inc., 589
U.S. 23, 32 (2019) (looking to how two terms were used “across various
statutes” to indicate how “Congress understands” the terms).
20 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
apply only to those who are also “physically present in the
United States.” 6
Considering the provision’s “text and context,”
Pulsifer v. United States, 601 U.S. 124, 141 (2024), we
conclude that it is possible to give nonredundant meaning to
those two categories. The phrase “physically present in the
United States” encompasses noncitizens within our borders,
and the phrase “arrives in the United States” encompasses
those who encounter officials at the border, whichever side
of the border they are standing on. 8 U.S.C. § 1158(a)(1).
The two categories overlap, because one might be both
physically present in the United States (that is, standing on
U.S. soil) while presenting oneself to a border official at a
port of entry. But each category includes people not
included in the other, such that every clause and word of the
provision has meaning.
Start with the text. The statute refers to any noncitizen
“who arrives in the United States (whether or not at a
designated port of arrival and including an alien who is
brought to the United States after having been interdicted in
international or United States waters).” Id. Although the
statute does not define what it means to “arrive[] in the
United States,” that phrase plainly pertains to the border. To
“arrive” means “to reach a destination.” Arrive, Merriam-
6
The dissent all but concedes that the Government’s reading renders the
phrase “arrives in the United States” redundant with the phrase
“physically present in the United States,” calling that redundancy a “belt-
and-suspenders approach.” Dissent at 59. The dissent notes that
“[s]ometimes the better overall reading of the statute contains some
redundancy.” Id. at 61 (quoting Barton v. Barr, 590 U.S. 222, 239
(2020)). But the Government’s reading does not merely create “some
redundancy” in the statutory scheme. It creates total redundancy
between two phrases that Congress enacted side by side.
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 21
Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (10th ed. 1996). For a
person coming to the United States to seek asylum, the
relevant destination is the U.S. border, where she can speak
with a border official. A person who presents herself to an
official at the border has therefore reached her destination—
she has “arrive[d].” Although it is possible to imagine that
the prepositional phrase “in the United States” means that
she must both present herself to a border official and get one
of her feet onto U.S. soil, that is not the best reading of the
phrase. The lengthy parenthetical that follows the phrase
“arrives in the United States” specifies that the phrase covers
those “at a designated port of arrival.” A noncitizen who
presents herself to a border official at a port of entry has
“arrive[d] in the United States . . . at a designated port of
arrival,” whether she is standing just at the edge of the port
of entry or somewhere within it.7
Our construction of the statute’s language also comports
with the larger context of the immigration system. In
particular, it avoids creating a “perverse incentive to enter at
an unlawful rather than a lawful location.” DHS v.
Thuraissigiam, 591 U.S. 103, 140 (2020); see also 8 C.F.R.
§ 235.1(a) (“Application to lawfully enter the United States
shall be made in person to an immigration officer at a U.S.
7
The dissent’s corpus linguistics examples actually illustrate how the
phrases surrounding “arrives in” provide useful context to help
understand its meaning. For example, the dissent relies on the phrase
“greeted with a ticket-tape parade” to infer that “arrives in New York”
means that Nelson Mandela must be “inside the Empire State” because
he is “parad[ing] through New York.” Dissent at 52. But imagine if the
sentence instead read “arrives in New York at Ellis Island.” That would
describe a person who had reached Ellis Island, even if he might
technically be standing on the New Jersey side. Similarly, here, the
phrase “at a designated port of arrival” provides important context to
understand the meaning of “arrives in the United States.”
22 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
port-of-entry when the port is open for inspection.”). Under
the Government’s reading, an asylum seeker who knows she
will be turned away at a port of entry before being allowed
to apply for asylum may well be better off circumventing the
official channels for entering the United States. If she
manages to surreptitiously cross the border, she will be able
to apply for asylum. We do not think Congress would have
created that incentive.
The Government proposes an alternative theory for why
§ 1158(a)(1) refers to both a noncitizen “physically present
in the United States” and a noncitizen who “arrives in the
United States.” It argues that the language “arrives in the
United States” is necessary to address the “entry fiction,” a
concept in immigration law that deems noncitizens
physically within the United States, but not legally admitted,
to be outside the United States for some legal purposes. See
Lin Guo Xi v. INS, 298 F.3d 832, 837 (9th Cir. 2002). For
instance, the Supreme Court has explained that noncitizens
“who arrive at ports of entry—even those paroled elsewhere
in the country for years pending removal—are ‘treated’ for
due process purposes ‘as if stopped at the border.’”
Thuraissigiam, 591 U.S. at 139 (quoting Shaughnessy v.
United States ex rel. Mezei, 345 U.S. 206, 215 (1953)). To
give another example, the Supreme Court once held that a
woman paroled into the United States pending a
determination on her assertion of U.S. citizenship was not
“within the United States” within the meaning of an INA
provision that would have allowed the Attorney General to
withhold her deportation. Leng May Ma v. Barber, 357 U.S.
185, 190 (1958). According to the Government, the entry
fiction means that some noncitizens, such as those who have
just crossed the border into the United States, are not
“physically present in the United States,” so Congress added
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 23
the phrase “arrives in the United States” to allow them to
apply for asylum.
The Government’s explanation is unpersuasive. Other
language in § 1158(a)(1) already makes clear that the entry
fiction does not interfere with a noncitizen’s right to apply
for asylum. The statute grants that right to noncitizens
“physically present in the United States.” Id. (emphasis
added). The entry fiction means that certain noncitizens who
are physically present are nonetheless not legally present,
but it does not change the fact that they are physically
present. See, e.g., Leng May Ma, 357 U.S. at 188 (stating
that “the detention of an alien in custody pending
determination of his admissibility does not legally constitute
an entry [into the United States] though the alien is
physically within the United States” (emphasis added)). By
specifying “physically present,” Congress instructed courts
not to apply the entry fiction when interpreting § 1158(a)(1).
Moreover, both the “physically present” and “arrives in”
categories are modified by the phrase “irrespective of such
alien’s status.” Id. The entry fiction applies only to those
who lack lawful immigration “status.” See, e.g., Leng May
Ma, 357 U.S. at 190 (explaining that because parole into the
United States does not “affect an alien’s status,” a paroled
person was still not “within the United States” under the
entry fiction). It would have been very strange for Congress
to define two categories essentially based on immigration
status and then modify both with the phrase “irrespective of
such alien’s status.” Given those other features of the
statutory text, there is no reason to think that the phrase
“arrives in the United States” serves the purpose suggested
by the Government.
Furthermore, if the rest of the statutory language in
§ 1158(a)(1) were insufficient to ensure that someone
24 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
potentially subject to the entry fiction can apply for asylum,
the phrase “arrives in the United States” would not do so
either. The Government contends that a person standing on
U.S. soil at a port of entry, waiting to be inspected by an
immigration officer, is not yet “physically present in the
United States” because of the entry fiction. According to the
Government, the phrase “arrives in the United States” fills
that gap. But if we thought that the entry fiction required us
to conclude that such a person on U.S. soil was not
“physically present in the United States,” then to be
consistent we would also have to conclude that she had not
yet “arrive[d] in the United States,” either. The
Government’s interpretation therefore does not make sense
as a way to address the entry fiction.
We note that our interpretation of § 1158 is not breaking
new ground. A prior version of § 1158 provided, “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.” 8 U.S.C. § 1158(a) (1980). 8 It is indisputable that
a noncitizen stopped at a border is “at a land border” whether
or not they have stepped across. So our interpretation of the
current “arrives in” category does not radically expand the
right to apply for asylum—it gives that category essentially
the same scope as the previous “at a land border” category.
8
The dissent suggests that this prior version of § 1158 contained the
phrase “arrives at,” Dissent at 50, but it did not. The dissent also suggests
that the italicized part of the phrase “an alien physically present in the
United States or at a land border or port of entry” (emphasis added)
somehow “compel[s] th[e] conclusion” that it was only discussing
people “in the United States.” Id. at 63. That not only ignores the
meaning of “or,” but it also makes the entire italicized phrase
surplusage—far from compelling the meaning the dissent offers.
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 25
Indeed, the Government’s reading would reflect a radical
contraction of the right to apply for asylum because it would
give the Executive Branch vast discretion to prevent people
from applying by blocking them at the border. 9
The Government contends that interpreting § 1158 to
apply to persons stopped right before the border misses the
distinction between asylum under § 1158 and refugee
resettlement under 8 U.S.C. § 1157. Section 1157 empowers
9
Congress adopted the current text of § 1158(a)(1) in a 1996 omnibus
bill. Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act, 1997, Pub. L. No. 104-
208, tit. VI, subtit. A, § 604, 110 Stat. 3009, 3009-690 to -694 (1996).
The dissent argues that “the [amendment] history suggests the opposite”
of our interpretation. Dissent at 62 (alteration in original) (quoting
Trump v. Hawaii, 585 U.S. 667, 692 (2018)). But, as the dissent notes,
Congress “amend[ed] the [INA] in dozens of important but technical
ways.” Id. (alterations in original) (quoting Renteria-Gonzalez v. INS,
322 F.3d 804, 809 (5th Cir. 2002)). This situation is therefore unlike
Trump v. Hawaii, where Congress “borrow[ed] ‘nearly verbatim’ from
the pre-existing statute,” aside from “one critical alteration.” 585 U.S.
at 692. Nor is this case like Stone v. INS, 514 U.S. 386, 397 (1995),
where Congress amended the INA to add a brand-new exception to the
Hobbs Act procedures.
We have recognized that “[t]he mere fact of an amendment itself does
not [always] indicate that the legislature intended to change a law.”
United States v. Pepe, 81 F.4th 961, 978 (9th Cir. 2023) (alterations in
original) (quoting Callejas v. McMahon, 750 F.2d 729, 731 (9th Cir.
1985)), cert. denied, 144 S. Ct. 2565 (2024). Indeed, at least one part of
the legislative history indicates that the revisions to § 1158 were not
understood to substantively change the scope of the right to apply for
asylum. A committee report described the new language as “provid[ing]
that any alien who is physically present in the United States or at the
border of the United States, regardless of status, is eligible to apply for
asylum.” H.R. Rep. No. 104-469, pt. 1, at 259 (1996). In other words,
the report understood the new phrase, “arrives in the United States,” to
be essentially equivalent to the old phrase, “at a land border or port of
entry.”
26 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
the Attorney General to “admit any refugee who is not firmly
resettled in any foreign country” (subject to numerical
limitations and other restrictions). 8 U.S.C. § 1157(c)(1). In
INS v. Cardoza-Fonseca, 480 U.S. 421 (1987), the Supreme
Court explained that § 1157 “governs the admission of
refugees who seek admission from foreign countries” while
§ 1158 “sets out the process by which refugees currently in
the United States may be granted asylum.” Id. at 433. We
made a similar statement in Yang v. INS, 79 F.3d. 932 (9th
Cir. 1996), where we explained that § 1157 “establishes the
procedure by which an alien not present in the United States
may apply for entry as a refugee” and that § 1158 “sets out
procedures for granting asylum to refugees within the United
States.” Id. at 938. Relying on those statements, the
Government contends that the noncitizens stopped at the
border under the metering policy remained within the ambit
of § 1157 because they were still in Mexico, and that they
therefore did not fall within § 1158.
Cardoza-Fonseca and Yang do not support the
Government’s position. Neither case concerned people
presenting themselves on the United States’ doorstep. The
sentences seized upon by the Government were general
background summaries of § 1157 and § 1158. Nothing
about the analysis in those cases suggested that either the
Supreme Court or our court was trying to define which
statute would apply to someone seeking protection at the
border. Moreover, both cases were referencing the prior
version of § 1158, which covered both noncitizens
“physically present in the United States” and noncitizens “at
a land border or port of entry.” Cardoza-Fonseca, 480 U.S.
at 427; Yang, 79 F.3d. at 934 & n.2. The cases’ willingness
to gloss § 1158 the way they did indicates that someone “at
a land border” is “in the United States” for purposes of
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 27
asylum. That is consistent with our conclusion that someone
“arrives in the United States” under the current version of
§ 1158 when she encounters officials at a land border. 10
We therefore conclude that a noncitizen stopped by U.S.
officials at the border is eligible to apply for asylum under
§ 1158(a)(1).
2.
The responsibilities of officials with respect to
noncitizens at the border are set out in 8 U.S.C. § 1225. That
section defines as an “applicant for admission” any
noncitizen “present in the United States who has not been
admitted or who arrives in the United States (whether or not
at a designated port of arrival and including an alien who is
brought to the United States after having been interdicted in
international or United States waters).” Id. § 1225(a)(1).
Border officials must “inspect[]” such applicants for
admission—essentially, process them to determine their
admissibility. Id. § 1225(a)(3). If, during inspection, a
noncitizen “indicates either an intention to apply for
asylum . . . or a fear of persecution, the officer shall refer”
her for an asylum interview. Id. § 1225(b)(1)(A)(ii).
The definition of an “applicant for admission” in
§ 1225(a)(1) is nearly identical to the language of
§ 1158(a)(1). The minor ways in which the relevant
language of § 1225(a)(1) differs from § 1158(a)(1) all relate
10
The dissent argues that the Fourth Circuit “disagrees” with our
conclusion. Dissent at 64 n.9 (citing Cela v. Garland, 75 F.4th 355, 361
n.9 (4th Cir. 2023)). But just as in Cardoza-Fonseca and Yang, the
Fourth Circuit in Cela provided background on the asylum and refugee
statutes; it did not address whether § 1158 applies to someone stopped at
the border. Cela’s discussion of the relationship between the asylum and
refugee statutes is entirely consistent with our holding here.
28 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
to the fact that § 1225(a)(1) is solely about people seeking
admission to the country. Accordingly, for the same reasons
we just articulated regarding § 1158(a)(1), we conclude that
a noncitizen stopped by officials at the border is an
“applicant for admission” under § 1225(a)(1) because she
“arrives in the United States.” That is consistent with our
prior en banc holding that § 1225(a)(1) “ensures that all
immigrants who have not been lawfully admitted, regardless
of their physical presence in the country, are . . .
‘applicant[s] for admission.’” Torres v. Barr, 976 F.3d 918,
928 (9th Cir. 2020) (en banc) (quoting 8 U.S.C.
§ 1225(a)(1)).
Our conclusion comports with the Government’s own
reference in a regulation to an “applicant for admission
coming or attempting to come into the United States at a
port-of-entry.” 8 C.F.R. § 1.2 (emphasis added). Here, the
Government contends that a person “attempting to come into
the United States” cannot be an applicant for admission
because she has not yet succeeded in crossing the border.
But that would mean its own regulation erroneously refers to
just such a person: “an applicant for admission . . .
attempting to come into the United States.” Id. It may be
that the Government was wrong when it drafted its
regulation and that it is right today, but we “may consider
the consistency of an agency’s views when we weigh the
persuasiveness of any interpretation it proffers in court.”
Bittner v. United States, 598 U.S. 85, 97 (2023). We think
that the Government had it right when it drafted its
regulation, before the question became the subject of this
litigation.
Our reading of § 1225(a)(1) is bolstered by the
surrounding statutory text, which indicates that Congress did
not intend to impose strict limits on which noncitizens at the
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 29
border must be inspected. The statute requires inspection not
only of “applicants for admission” but also of noncitizens
“otherwise seeking admission or readmission to or transit
through the United States.” 8 U.S.C. § 1225(a)(3). The
statute also provides that even a stowaway on a ship, who
“[i]n no case may . . . be considered an applicant for
admission,” is subject to “inspection by an immigration
officer” and must be referred for an asylum interview if the
stowaway states an intention to apply for asylum or a fear of
persecution. Id. § 1225(a)(2). Given that Congress took
care to provide for the inspection of both the catch-all
category of noncitizens “otherwise seeking admission” and
stowaways, we are confident that Congress did not define
the category of “applicant[s] for admission” to exclude those
stopped by U.S. officials right before the border.
Because noncitizens stopped right before the border are
“applicant[s] for admission” under § 1225(a)(1), border
officials have a mandatory duty to inspect them under
§ 1225(a)(3).
3.
The presumption against extraterritorial application of
statutes does not change our interpretation of § 1158 or
§ 1225. Although “Congress has the authority to enforce its
laws beyond the territorial boundaries of the United States,”
we presume that “‘legislation of Congress, unless a contrary
intent appears, is meant to apply only within the territorial
jurisdiction of the United States.’” EEOC v. Arabian Am.
Oil Co., 499 U.S. 244, 248 (1991) (quoting Foley Bros.,
Inc. v. Filardo, 336 U.S. 281, 285 (1949)). The presumption
against extraterritorial application of statutes serves two
primary purposes. First, it “protect[s] against unintended
clashes between our laws and those of other nations which
30 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
could result in international discord.” Id. Second, the
presumption guards against unintended applications of U.S.
laws by giving force to “the commonsense notion that
Congress generally legislates with domestic concerns in
mind.” Smith v. United States, 507 U.S. 197, 204 n.5 (1993).
The Supreme Court has set out “a two-step framework
for analyzing extraterritoriality issues.” RJR Nabisco, Inc. v.
Eur. Cmty., 579 U.S. 325, 337 (2016). At the first step, a
court must ask whether the statute in question “gives a clear,
affirmative indication that it applies extraterritorially,” such
that the presumption is rebutted. Id. If so, the scope of the
statute’s extraterritorial application “turns on the limits
Congress has (or has not) imposed” in the statutory text. Id.
at 337-38. If not, then the court must proceed to the second
step and ask if the case at hand involves a “permissible
domestic application” of the statute. Id. at 337.
We conclude that § 1158 and § 1225 contain a “clear,
affirmative indication” of extraterritorial reach. RJR
Nabisco, 579 U.S. at 337. A “dispositive” indication of
extraterritorial reach may come from context. Id. at 340. No
magic words are required. Morrison v. Nat’l Austl. Bank
Ltd., 561 U.S. 247, 265 (2010). For instance, we have
concluded that Congress intended laws criminalizing the
illegal importation of weapons to apply extraterritorially
because those laws target “conduct that almost always
originates outside the United States.” United States v.
Ubaldo, 859 F.3d 690, 700 (9th Cir. 2017) (examining 18
U.S.C. § 922(l) and 22 U.S.C. § 2778(b)(2)). Sections 1158
and 1225 likewise address “conduct”—the arrival of
noncitizens to the United States—“that almost always
originates outside the United States.” Ubaldo, 859 F.3d at
700. That indication of extraterritorial reach, which is
evident in both the statutes’ text and context, is sufficient
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 31
indication to rebut the presumption against
extraterritoriality.
That does not mean that § 1158 and § 1225 extend
worldwide. When the presumption is rebutted, we are left to
apply the “limits Congress has . . . imposed” in the statutory
text. RJR Nabisco, 579 U.S. at 337-38. As we explained in
our foregoing analysis of those sections, Congress crafted a
scheme for the inspection of noncitizens both physically
present in the United States and on its doorstep. 11
B.
Section 706(1) of the APA provides that “[t]he reviewing
court shall . . . compel agency action unlawfully withheld or
unreasonably delayed.” 5 U.S.C. § 706(1). The
Government offers two theories why, even if § 1158 and
§ 1225 create a mandatory duty to inspect noncitizens
stopped at the border, the metering policy did not withhold
that required action within the meaning of § 706(1).
First, the Government contends that the duty was not
withheld because the metering policy did not result in
universal denial of the opportunity to apply for asylum,
given that some noncitizens were processed in some
instances. But even if the Government processed other
noncitizens, the district court certified classes of people who
were not processed. The Government does not argue on
appeal that class certification was inappropriate, and whether
11
The dissent suggests that our decision conflicts with the Supreme
Court’s decision in Sale v. Haitian Centers Council, Inc., 509 U.S. 155
(1993). Dissent at 65-66. In Sale, the Coast Guard was going “beyond
the territorial sea of the United States” to intercept vessels on the high
seas. 509 U.S. at 158-59 (quotation marks omitted). By contrast, here,
noncitizens were stopped on the United States’ doorstep. There are
significant differences between those two scenarios.
32 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
other people were processed does not affect whether the
Government fulfilled its obligations to the class members
here.
Second, the Government argues that the duty to inspect
was merely delayed as to each person, not withheld. The
distinction between agency withholding and delay is
important. If an agency withholds a required action, it
violates § 706(1) regardless of its reason for doing so. But
if an agency delays a required action, it violates § 706(1)
only if the delay is “unreasonabl[e].” Id. The
reasonableness of any delay is a fact-intensive inquiry
analyzed under “the so-called TRAC factors.” Indep. Mining
Co. v. Babbitt, 105 F.3d 502, 507 (9th Cir. 1997) (citing
Telecomms. Rsch. & Action Ctr. v. FCC, 750 F.2d 70, 79-80
(D.C. Cir. 1984)). 12
12
The TRAC factors are:
(1) the time agencies take to make decisions must be
governed by a “rule of reason”[;] (2) where Congress
has provided a timetable or other indication of the
speed with which it expects the agency to proceed in
the enabling statute, that statutory scheme may supply
content for this rule of reason[;] (3) delays that might
be reasonable in the sphere of economic regulation are
less tolerable when human health and welfare are at
stake[;] (4) the court should consider the effect of
expediting delayed action on agency activities of a
higher or competing priority[;] (5) the court should
also take into account the nature and extent of the
interests prejudiced by the delay[;] and (6) the court
need not “find any impropriety lurking behind agency
lassitude in order to hold that agency action is
unreasonably delayed.”
Indep. Mining Co., 105 F.3d at 507 n.7 (alterations in original) (quoting
Telecomms. Rsch. & Action Ctr., 750 F.2d at 80).
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 33
The Tenth Circuit has articulated an apparently
categorical rule that agency action can be considered
“withheld” only if there is “a date-certain deadline” by
which the agency must act—otherwise the failure to act is
evaluated for unreasonable delay. Forest Guardians v.
Babbitt, 174 F.3d 1178, 1190 (10th Cir. 1999). If we were
to apply that rule, we would have to analyze the metering
policy for unreasonable delay because § 1158 and § 1225 do
not include specific deadlines.
But our court has taken a different approach from that of
the Tenth Circuit. In Vietnam Veterans of America v. CIA,
811 F.3d 1068 (9th Cir. 2016), we considered a regulation
that “unequivocally command[ed] the Army to provide
former [chemical-weapons] test subjects with current
information about their health.” Id. at 1076. The regulation
imposed no deadline for carrying out that duty, stating only
that the Army was required to provide test subjects with
“newly acquired information . . . when that information
becomes available.” Id. We concluded that the Army’s
obligations were enforceable under § 706(1) of the APA, and
we affirmed the district court’s decision to enter an
injunction requiring the Army to provide such information.
Id. at 1071, 1078-80. We did not state explicitly whether the
Army’s failure to comply with the regulation constituted
withholding or delay under the APA. See id. at 1078-80.
But we did not evaluate the TRAC factors or otherwise
consider the reasonableness of the Army’s failure to act, id.,
as would have been required before we could affirm the
injunction if agency action had been delayed instead of
withheld. Our decision therefore must have rested on a
conclusion that the Army’s failure to act constituted
withholding. Under that precedent, then, the fact that 8
U.S.C. § 1158 and § 1225 do not include a specific deadline
34 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
does not resolve whether the Government’s failure to act in
this case constitutes withholding. 13
We hold that when an agency refuses to accept, in any
form, a request that it take a required action, it has
“withheld” that duty within the meaning of § 706(1). That
holding is informed by a provision of the APA that requires
an agency to “conclude a matter presented to it” “within a
reasonable time.” 5 U.S.C. § 555(b). By refusing to accept
a matter at all, an agency indicates that it will not “conclude”
it at any time in the future. In other words, it withholds
action entirely. See Viet. Veterans, 811 F.3d at 1079
(treating as withholding a “situation where a federal agency
refuses to act in disregard of its legal duty to act” (quoting
EEOC v. Liberty Loan Corp., 584 F.2d 853, 856 (8th Cir.
1978))).
Our interpretation of the difference between withholding
and delay in § 706(1) comports with the ordinary meaning
of those terms. When an action is delayed, one expects that,
13
The dissent would set aside Vietnam Veterans based on the briefing in
that case and would instead rely on Biodiversity Legal Foundation v.
Badgley, 309 F.3d 1166 (9th Cir. 2002). Dissent at 70-73. But Badgley
holds only that where there is a statutory deadline, failure to comply by
that deadline constitutes unlawful withholding of agency action. 309
F.3d at 1177-78, 1177 n.11. It does not say that an agency can have
withheld action only if there is a statutory deadline. In other words,
Badgley holds that violating a statutory deadline is a sufficient condition
for concluding that agency inaction constitutes withholding, but nothing
in Badgley suggests it is a necessary condition. The same is true of the
D.C. Circuit and Fourth Circuit cases on which the dissent relies. Indeed,
the Fourth Circuit described “an agency’s failure to meet a hard statutory
deadline” as only one example of when agency action can be “unlawfully
withheld” under 5 U.S.C. § 706(1), indicating that such a deadline is not
a necessary condition. South Carolina v. United States, 907 F.3d 742,
760 (4th Cir. 2018).
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 35
with the passage of time (maybe even an unreasonable
amount of time), the action eventually will be completed. By
contrast, when an action has been withheld, no amount of
waiting can be expected to change the situation. With
patience, one can wait out delay, but even with superhuman
patience, one cannot wait out withholding.
Consider someone who heads to the post office to mail a
package shortly before the holidays. The postal workers tell
the person that they will not accept her package that day
because they are very busy, but that she is welcome to come
back the next day. They do not give her an appointment, and
they warn her that tomorrow they are likely to be just as busy
as today. Just keep coming back, they say—eventually,
perhaps within a few days or a few weeks or a few months,
the post office might accept her package. Have the postal
workers delayed carrying out the task of mailing her
package? No, they have withheld their services. That is true
even though the person could come back the next day to try
to mail the package again. If the postal employees gave the
customer an appointment to come back when they would
accept her package, then their conduct would amount to
delay. So too if they made a waitlist of customers and
guaranteed they would work through it. If the postal workers
accepted the package but were unable to ship it promptly,
that too would be delay, not withholding. But it is not mere
delay to tell a person requesting an action that her current
request will not be entertained but that she is welcome to
make the request again another time.
We accordingly conclude that the metering policy
constituted withholding of agency action, not delay. Under
the metering policy, border officials turned away noncitizens
without taking any steps to keep track of who was being
turned away or otherwise allowing them to open asylum
36 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
applications. Such a wholesale refusal to carry out a
mandatory duty—leaving the responsibility to try again in
each noncitizen’s hands—cannot be called delay within the
meaning of § 706(1). Nor did the Government’s informal
and sporadic coordination with Mexican government
officials or nonprofits keeping waitlists transform the
metering policy into delay rather than withholding.
Organizing by interested third parties did not satisfy the
Government’s obligation to inspect asylum seekers. If
anything, it indicates that the Government was not fulfilling
its obligations.
We stress that our decision leaves the Government with
wide latitude and flexibility to carry out its duties at the
border. Our role as a court is not to superintend the
Executive Branch’s decisions about how to carry out its
many obligations. Our role is only to enforce the
requirements enacted into law by Congress. Even minimal
steps by the Government, such as implementing and
following a waitlist system or initiating the asylum process,
would shift the § 706(1) analysis of any challenge from the
withholding category into the delay category. But because
the Government in this case did not take any such steps, we
need not (and cannot) reach the question whether any delay
would have been reasonable. Sections 1158 and 1225
require border officials to inspect noncitizens seeking
asylum at the border, and the metering policy withheld that
duty.
IV.
Because we affirm the district court’s conclusion that the
metering policy violated § 706(1) of the APA, we need not
reach the other merits claims. Plaintiffs acknowledge that,
if they prove a § 706(1) violation, nothing about the scope or
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 37
validity of the district court’s relief turns on whether they
also prevail on any of the other claims in their Complaint.
We accordingly construe Plaintiffs’ cross-appeal on the
§ 706(2), INA, and Alien Tort Statute claims as merely
presenting alternative grounds for affirmance, which we
decline to reach. See, e.g., Townsel v. Contra Costa County,
820 F.2d 319, 320 (9th Cir. 1987). We also vacate the
district court’s entry of judgment for Plaintiffs on the
constitutional due process claim without further analysis of
the parties’ arguments as to that claim. “A fundamental and
longstanding principle of judicial restraint requires that
courts avoid reaching constitutional questions in advance of
the necessity of deciding them.” Lyng v. Nw. Indian
Cemetery Protective Ass’n, 485 U.S. 439, 445 (1988). That
principle requires courts “to determine, before addressing [a]
constitutional issue, whether a decision on that question
could have entitled [the plaintiffs] to relief beyond that to
which they were entitled on their statutory claims.” Id. at
446. “If no additional relief would have been warranted, a
constitutional decision” is “unnecessary and therefore
inappropriate.” Id. When we are persuaded that a district
court’s constitutional holding was “unnecessary,” we may
“simply vacate the relevant portions of the judgment . . .
without discussing the merits of the constitutional issue.” Id.
We do so here.
V.
We turn finally to the appropriateness of the declaratory
and injunctive relief entered by the district court.
A.
The district court entered classwide declaratory relief
stating that the metering policy violated § 1158 and § 1225.
Such relief was proper under the Declaratory Judgment Act,
38 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
28 U.S.C. § 2201(a). The Government presents only one
argument to the contrary: that the classwide declaratory
relief is prohibited by 8 U.S.C. § 1252(f)(1), which provides
that “no court (other than the Supreme Court) shall have
jurisdiction or authority to enjoin or restrain the operation”
of specified immigration statutes on a classwide basis. As
the Government concedes, however, that argument is
foreclosed by circuit precedent holding that § 1252(f)(1)
does not “bar classwide declaratory relief.” Rodriguez v.
Hayes, 591 F.3d 1105, 1119 (9th Cir. 2010). We therefore
affirm the district court’s entry of classwide declaratory
relief. 14
B.
The district court entered a permanent injunction
prohibiting application of the Asylum Transit Rule to
members of the P.I. class—who were prevented by the
metering policy from applying for asylum before the Rule
took effect—and requiring the Government to unwind past
denials of P.I. class members’ asylum applications based on
the Rule. The Government asserts that the permanent
injunction violates 8 U.S.C. § 1252(f)(1), which, as
explained, prohibits courts other than the Supreme Court
from entering classwide injunctive relief regarding the
operation of specified immigration statutes. We summarize
the requirements of the district court’s injunction before
14
The Supreme Court recently declined to reach the question whether
§ 1252(f)(1) prohibits classwide declaratory relief. Garland v. Aleman
Gonzalez, 596 U.S. 543, 551 n.2 (2022). Because the Supreme Court’s
reservation of a question is not clearly irreconcilable with a precedent of
our court that resolves the same question, we follow our binding
precedent. Mont. Consumer Couns. v. FERC, 659 F.3d 910, 920 (9th
Cir. 2011) (citing Miller v. Gammie, 335 F.3d 889, 900 (9th Cir. 2003)
(en banc)).
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 39
addressing the meaning of § 1252(f)(1) and its application
here.
1.
The permanent injunction includes both negative
injunctive relief (prohibiting the Government from taking
certain actions) and affirmative injunctive relief (requiring
the Government to take certain actions). The negative
injunctive relief prohibits the application of the Asylum
Transit Rule to asylum applications by P.I. class members.
The affirmative injunctive relief has three components.
First, the Government “must make all reasonable efforts to
identify” P.I. class members. Second, the Government must
notify identified P.I. class members “in administrative
proceedings before United States Citizenship and
Immigration Services or EOIR, or in DHS custody, of their
class membership, as well as the existence and import of the”
injunction. Finally, DHS and EOIR “must take immediate
affirmative steps to reopen or reconsider past determinations
that potential [P.I. class members] were ineligible for asylum
based on the [Asylum Transit Rule], for all potential [P.I.
class members] in expedited or regular removal
proceedings.” The district court specified that “[s]uch steps
include identifying affected [P.I. class members] and either
directing immigration judges or the Board of Immigration
Appeals to reopen or reconsider their cases or directing DHS
attorneys representing the government in such proceedings
to affirmatively seek, and not oppose, such reopening or
reconsideration.” 15
15
The district court’s permanent injunction order detailed how the
Government was complying with its obligations under the materially
identical preliminary injunctions. Order, Al Otro Lado, Inc. v.
40 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
2.
The Government contends that the injunction is
prohibited by 8 U.S.C. § 1252(f)(1), which provides in full:
Regardless of the nature of the action or claim
or of the identity of the party or parties
bringing the action, no court (other than the
Supreme Court) shall have jurisdiction or
authority to enjoin or restrain the operation of
the provisions of part IV of this subchapter [8
U.S.C. chapter 12, subchapter II], as
amended by the Illegal Immigration Reform
and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996
[“IIRIRA”], other than with respect to the
application of such provisions to an
individual alien against whom proceedings
under such part have been initiated.
That provision poses no bar to injunctions concerning
§ 1158, the asylum statute, which falls within part I (not
part IV) of the relevant subchapter. But the provision
prohibits certain injunctions affecting the operation of
expedited removal proceedings under § 1225 and regular
removal proceedings under § 1229a, both of which do fall
Mayorkas, No. 17-cv-2366 (S.D. Cal. Aug. 5, 2022), ECF No. 816. The
district court largely concluded that the Government’s actions were
adequate, so we accept the parties’ understanding that the court’s
recitation of those actions defined the details of the injunction’s
requirements. It is not necessary for us to recount all those details here
to resolve this appeal.
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 41
within part IV of the relevant subchapter. 16 We therefore
must decide whether any of the injunction’s requirements
“enjoin or restrain the operation of” those statutory sections.
Precedent offers some guidance. The Supreme Court
explained in Aleman Gonzalez that § 1252(f)(1) “generally
prohibits lower courts from entering injunctions that order
federal officials to take or to refrain from taking actions to
enforce, implement, or otherwise carry out the specified
statutory provisions” with respect to an entire class. 596
U.S. at 550. Such an injunction is barred even if a court
determines that the Government’s “operation” of a covered
provision is unlawful or incorrect. Id. at 552-54. Applying
§ 1252(f)(1), the Supreme Court concluded that the
provision prohibits classwide injunctions requiring the
Government to hold bond hearings for individuals detained
pending removal pursuant to a covered statutory provision.
Id. at 551. The Court explained that such an injunction
improperly “require[s] officials to take actions that (in the
Government’s view) are not required” by the detention
provision “and to refrain from actions that (again in the
Government’s view) are allowed by” that provision. Id. One
clear lesson of Aleman Gonzalez is that § 1252(f)(1)
prohibits courts from awarding injunctive relief that directly
adds a new procedural step to the Government’s operation
of covered provisions.
16
We have explained that § 1252(f)(1) does not apply to every section
codified within the specified portion of the U.S. Code, but rather applies
only to such sections that are also part of the INA. Galvez v. Jaddou, 52
F.4th 821, 829-31 (9th Cir. 2022). That wrinkle makes no difference
here because § 1225 and § 1229a are part of the INA. See Ira J. Kurzban,
Kurzban’s Immigration Law Sourcebook 2400 (17th ed. 2020-21).
42 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
What else § 1252(f)(1) may prohibit is a more difficult
question. Our court has repeatedly held that § 1252(f)(1)
does not prohibit an injunction simply because of collateral
effects on a covered provision. In Gonzales v. DHS, 508
F.3d 1227 (9th Cir. 2007), we held that an injunction
regarding “the unlawful application of statutory provisions
regarding adjustment of status” was not barred by
§ 1252(f)(1). Gonzales v. DHS, 508 F.3d at 1233. We
explained that a court may enter a classwide injunction
regarding adjustment of status even though adjustment of
status can change the outcome of a removal proceeding
under a covered provision. Id. We observed that the
injunction would have at most a “collateral” effect on DHS’s
operation of proceedings under covered provisions, and that
the injunction “directly implicate[d]” a non-covered
provision. Id. We reasoned that a “one step removed” effect
on a covered provision did not bring the injunction within
the scope of § 1252(f)(1). Gonzales v. DHS, 508 F.3d at
1233.
More recently, in Gonzalez v. ICE, 975 F.3d 788 (9th
Cir. 2020), we considered an injunction concerning the
issuance of “immigration detainers,” with which federal
officials request that law enforcement agencies temporarily
keep a noncitizen in custody so that DHS can assume
custody and initiate removal proceedings. Id. at 797-99. We
concluded that the injunction in that case did not run afoul
of § 1252(f)(1) because DHS’s authority to issue such
detainers arises out of a section not covered by § 1252(f)(1).
Gonzalez v. ICE, 975 F.3d at 812-15, 814 n.17. Although
the detainers served to facilitate DHS’s authority to arrest
and detain noncitizens pending removal proceedings—an
authority that does arise from statutory sections covered by
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 43
§ 1252(f)(1)—any effect on that authority was collateral.
See Gonzalez v. ICE, 975 F.3d at 815 & n.19.
The Supreme Court acknowledged our collateral-effect
rule in Aleman Gonzalez and left it undisturbed. 596 U.S. at
553 n.4 (citing Gonzales v. DHS, 508 F.3d at 1233).
3.
Applying those precedents here, the negative injunctive
relief entered by the district court is not barred by
§ 1252(f)(1). That relief, which prohibits the Government
from applying the Asylum Transit Rule to P.I. class
members, concerns asylum eligibility under § 1158, which
is not covered by § 1252(f)(1). The Asylum Transit Rule
was promulgated under § 1158(b)(2)(C) and
§ 1158(d)(5)(B), which allow the Attorney General to
establish additional substantive and procedural requirements
for obtaining asylum. See 84 Fed. Reg. 33829, 33830
(July 16, 2019). The negative injunctive relief therefore
“directly implicates” asylum eligibility under § 1158.
Gonzales v. DHS, 508 F.3d at 1233. Even though asylum
eligibility may change the outcome of a removal proceeding
under a covered provision, such an effect is collateral under
our precedents. In litigation concerning the validity of a
different rule excluding some people from eligibility for
asylum, we explained that “[a]t best, the law governing
asylum is collateral to the process of removal” because
noncitizens “can apply and be eligible for asylum and never
encounter any of the statutory provisions governing
removal.” E. Bay Sanctuary Covenant v. Biden, 993 F.3d
640, 667 (9th Cir. 2021). Although in that case we were not
addressing § 1252(f)(1), our reasoning that asylum
eligibility is collateral to removal is equally applicable here.
The negative injunctive relief prohibiting the application of
44 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
the Asylum Transit Rule to P.I. class members’ asylum
applications is therefore permissible.
That conclusion is not affected by the fact that an asylum
application can arise within an expedited removal
proceeding under § 1225 or a regular removal proceeding
under § 1229a (which are covered provisions). The text of
§ 1225 repeatedly makes clear that applications for asylum
raised within expedited removal proceedings are
nevertheless made “under section 1158.” 8 U.S.C.
§ 1225(a)(2), (b)(1)(A)(i)-(ii), (b)(1)(B)(v), (b)(1)(C). An
asylum officer acting under § 1225 essentially predicts
whether a noncitizen “could establish eligibility for asylum
under section 1158.” Id. § 1225(b)(1)(B)(v). Section 1229a
likewise refers to asylum as relief “under section[] 1158.”
Id. § 1229a(c)(7)(C)(ii). In evaluating the merits of a
noncitizen’s application for “relief or protection from
removal,” id. § 1229a(c)(4)(A), an IJ applies “the applicable
eligibility requirements,” id. § 1229a(c)(4)(A)(i), which for
asylum are set out under § 1158. 17 None of those provisions
shift asylum determinations out from § 1158, which is not
covered by § 1252(f)(1).
The first two components of the affirmative injunctive
relief, which require the Government to identify possible P.I.
class members and notify them about their class membership
and the significance of the injunction, are also permissible
under § 1252(f)(1). Those requirements do not “enjoin or
17
Although § 1229a also suggests that asylum relief might arise under 8
U.S.C. § 1231(b)(3), that provision merely states that the Government
cannot remove a noncitizen to a country where the noncitizen’s “life or
freedom would be threatened” because of his or her “race, religion,
nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political
opinion.”
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 45
restrain the operation” of any covered provision. Id.
§ 1252(f)(1). Indeed, the Government offers no specific
argument to the contrary.
The final portion of the affirmative injunctive relief
requires the Government either to “direct[] immigration
judges or the Board of Immigration Appeals to reopen or
reconsider” asylum determinations sua sponte for P.I. class
members denied asylum under the Asylum Transit Rule or
to “direct[] DHS attorneys representing the government in
such proceedings to affirmatively seek, and not oppose, such
reopening or reconsideration.” According to the
Government, that requirement is barred by § 1252(f)(1)
because it “affirmatively requires the Government to disturb
determinations that have already been made” under covered
removal provisions.
We agree that, in requiring the Government to take the
initiative to revisit determinations in removal proceedings
even absent a motion by the noncitizen, the injunction
“require[s] officials to take actions that (in the Government’s
view) are not required by” the covered removal provisions.
Aleman Gonzalez, 596 U.S. at 551. In effect, that
requirement forces the Government to add a new procedural
step within the removal process with respect to the P.I. class.
It “thus interfere[s] with the Government’s efforts to
operate” the covered removal provisions. Id. Because that
interference cannot be categorized as a collateral effect
under our precedents, we must narrow the district court’s
injunction in the following way: The injunction may not
require the Government, on its own initiative, to reopen or
reconsider (or to move to reopen or reconsider) an asylum
officer, IJ, or BIA decision in a removal proceeding.
46 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
That said, the negative injunctive relief properly
prohibits the Government from applying the Asylum Transit
Rule to a P.I. class member, even if it permissibly applied
the Rule to that person in the past. For instance, if an IJ has
denied a P.I. class member’s asylum application on the basis
of the Asylum Transit Rule, and the P.I. class member moves
for reconsideration by the IJ, the negative injunctive relief
prohibits the IJ from relying on the Asylum Transit Rule to
deny the motion (although the IJ may deny the motion if
there is a different valid ground). Likewise, if that P.I. class
member appeals to the BIA, the BIA may not use the Asylum
Transit Rule to affirm the IJ’s decision (although the BIA
may affirm if there is a different valid ground). And if the
BIA reverses the IJ’s decision and remands, the IJ may not
apply the Asylum Transit Rule on remand. The same
principle applies if a P.I. class member moves to reopen her
removal proceeding: The IJ or the BIA may not use the
Asylum Transit Rule to deny the motion (although they may
deny the motion on a different valid ground). In each of
those scenarios, the negative injunctive relief operates under
§ 1158 and has only collateral effects on the operation of the
immigration statutes covered by § 1252(f)(1), as explained
above.
VI.
For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the judgment in
favor of Plaintiffs on the APA § 706(1) claim, vacate the
judgment in favor of Plaintiffs on the constitutional due
process claim, affirm the declaratory relief, and affirm the
injunctive relief other than the requirement that the
Government reopen or reconsider (or move to reopen or
reconsider) past determinations on its own initiative.
AFFIRMED IN PART, VACATED IN PART.
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 47
R. Nelson, J., dissenting:
In 1996, Congress provided that an alien may apply for
asylum when she “arrives in the United States.” 8 U.S.C.
§ 1158(a)(1). That can mean only one thing: the alien must
be physically present in the United States. After years of
litigation, plaintiffs have not identified a single example of
when “arrives in” means anything besides physically
reaching a destination. The majority does not provide an
example, either. For good reason. A basic corpus linguistic
analysis shows that no English speaker uses the term “arrives
in” to mean anything but being physically present in a
location. This statutory language is as unambiguous as it
gets.
Yet the majority concludes that aliens currently in
Mexico have “arrive[d] in the United States” and can apply
for asylum. No circuit court has ever reached such a strained
conclusion. Not since the current act was adopted 30 years
ago. Not under the prior act adopted 45 years ago which had
even more permissive language. At oral argument,
Plaintiffs’ counsel acknowledged that in several years of
legal research, she could not find a single judicial precedent
supporting this interpretation. And the motions panel
majority four years ago entered an injunction without
deciding that Plaintiffs’ strained statutory argument was
likely correct. Al Otro Lado v. Wolf, 952 F.3d 999, 1013 (9th
Cir. 2020) (concluding it “need not decide” the issue).
The majority’s holding is wrong, troubling, and
breathtaking. In its struggle to create ambiguity in the
statutory language, the majority skips over the statute’s plain
meaning, ignores a common-sense understanding of the
English language, misapplies a semantic canon, disregards
the typical presumption against extraterritoriality, and
48 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
usurps Congress’ authority to make law. By so doing, the
majority strikes Congress’s selected language (“arrives in
the United States,” whether or not “at a designated port of
arrival”) and replaces it with language of the majority’s
choosing (“stopped on the United States’ doorstep”). Maj.
at 31 n.11; see also id. at 18, 26, 31. As a result, it imposes
on the federal government—for the first time—an obligation
to interview asylum seekers who are still in Mexico. Finally,
perhaps recognizing the breathtaking consequences of its
ruling, the majority tries to limit its practical impact—not by
correcting its interpretation of “arrives in,” but by
misinterpreting yet another statute: the APA.
Because a person standing on Mexican soil has not
“arrive[d] in the United States” or “at a designated port of
arrival,” I dissent.
I
8 U.S.C. § 1158(a)(1) allows an alien who is “physically
present in the United States” or who “arrives in the United
States” to apply for asylum. A different statute, 8 U.S.C.
§ 1225(a)(1), provides that aliens who are unadmitted but
“present” in the United States or who “arrive[] in the United
States” can apply for admission. An applicant for admission
must, in turn, be inspected. Asylum officers then interview
inspected aliens to determine whether they have a credible
fear of persecution. Id. § 1225(b)(1)(B). The statute
imposes no deadline on these obligations.
All agree that “physically present in the United States”
refers to those located in the United States. Id. § 1158(a)(1).
As the majority explains, this phrase “encompasses
noncitizens within our borders.” Maj. at 20. That reading is
supported by our precedent. Barrios v. Holder, 581 F.3d
849, 863 (9th Cir. 2009) (“physically present” means
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 49
“corporeally being in the place in question or under
consideration” (cleaned up)).
A
We disagree on whether an alien who has not “stepped
across the border,” Maj. at 17, “arrives in the United States.”
Text, history, precedent, and common sense show that she
has not—even if that means that “arrives in the United
States” and “physically present in the United States” have
nearly identical meanings.
1
Begin with the text. When, as here, “a statute does not
define a term, we typically give the phrase its ordinary
meaning.” FCC v. AT&T Inc., 562 U.S. 397, 403 (2011)
(quotation omitted). The ordinary meaning is not merely a
possible meaning. “[S]tatutes, no matter how impenetrable,
do—in fact, must—have a single, best meaning.” Loper
Bright Enters. v. Raimondo, 144 S. Ct. 2244, 2266 (2024).
Our role as judges is to “use every tool at [our] disposal to
determine th[at] best reading.” Id. “The starting point for
statutory interpretation is the actual language of the
statute”—what the words mean to an ordinary American.
United States v. Yankowski, 184 F.3d 1071, 1072 (9th Cir.
1999). The majority skips this important and basic first
step—which is dispositive here. 1
1
The majority claims that it cannot interpret “arrives in” without looking
to the whole statute. See Maj. at 18 n.4. True, words must be understood
in context. Taniguchi v. Kan Pac. Saipan, Ltd., 566 U.S. 560, 569
(2012). But context is a tool to understand a law’s ordinary meaning,
not a tool to replace it. See id. We cannot use context to impose a
meaning that a term cannot bear. See id. (using context only after
50 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
The first term is the verb “arrive.” Since at least the 14th
Century, the word “arrive” has meant to “reach[] a
destination.” John Ayto, Dictionary of Word Origins 36
(2011). Its meaning remained the same in 1996, when the
statute was enacted. Then, as now, “arrive” meant to “reach
a destination” or “come to a particular place.” The American
Heritage Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary 102 (1987).
Other dictionaries confirm that a person “arrives”
somewhere when she “come[s] to a certain point in the
course of travel” or “reach[es] [her] destination.” Random
House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 116 (2001).
Thus, to “arrive at” a place means to reach it after
traveling. Id.; see also Al Otro Lado, 952 F.3d at 1028
(Bress, J., dissenting) (collecting examples from other
dictionaries). 2 Had Congress used the term “arrive at,”
perhaps the majority’s ambiguity argument would have
some plausible force. But Congress didn’t use “arrives at”—
it used “arrives in.” Indeed, in 1996, Congress changed the
statutory language from “at” to “in.” And that is the
language we interpret.
“Arrive in,” the term Congress used, has a clearer
meaning—it is used “[w]hen the place of arrival is the
object.” Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage 120 (1989).
Consider the preposition “in.” “In has remained in use with
verbs of motion” for hundreds of years. Id. at 533. It
determining that a term “can encompass” two meanings); see also King
v. Burwell, 576 U.S. 473, 500–01 (2015) (Scalia, J., dissenting). The
majority’s proposed interpretation is not only unnatural, but unheard of.
2
For example, the term “at” is used with the “verb[] of motion” “arrive”
to “indicat[e] attainment of a position.” 1 Oxford English Dictionary
739 (2d ed. 1989). So a person could “arrive at” the border on either
side, depending on which direction they are coming from.
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 51
describes being “[w]ithin the limits or bounds of” a place
with “material extension.” 7 Oxford English Dictionary 759
(2d ed. 1989). Accordingly, it is typically used “with the
proper names of . . . countries.” Id. Putting those two terms
together, a person “arrives in” a country when she has
reached its inner limits or bounds.
Real-life experience bears this out. Imagine, for
example, that Apple says a new iPhone will “arrive in stores”
on January 2. Hearing this, you would expect the phone to
be on the shelves on January 2—not in an unloaded
semitrailer behind the store. Or imagine that Amazon tells
you a package will “arrive in your mailbox” on June 3. On
June 3, you would expect the package to be inside your
mailbox—not at the local post office, ready for delivery. As
these common-sense examples show, to “arrive in” a
location means to be physically within the premises. Not at
the border, or in the process of arriving.
Linguistic data confirms that these are not isolated
examples. See Wilson v. Safelite Grp., 930 F.3d 429, 440
(6th Cir. 2019) (Thapar, J., concurring in part) (courts “ought
to embrace” corpus linguistics as “another tool to ascertain
the ordinary meaning”). The Corpus of Contemporary
American English is a database of over one billion words
spoken in everyday contexts between 1990 and 2010.
Within that database, “arrives in” was used to describe a
destination 161 times between 1990 and 1996 (when the
statute was enacted). 3 Appendix 1. Of those, 160—the
3
This search can be replicated by searching “arrives in” on english-
corpora.org/coca. Restrict results to those occurring before 1996. That
yields 219 results. But 58 are irrelevant. The statute uses “arrives in”
to describe where immigrants are located. By contrast, 58 results use
52 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
overwhelming majority—referenced someone or something
physically within the destination. And not once was the
phrase clearly used to mean standing at the destination’s
border.
A few examples are illustrative. One source describes a
plane that “arrives in Newark but late,” forcing the
passengers to rush through the airport to catch their
connections. 4 Did the plane “arrive” when, circling miles
above the city, the captain announced that the plane was
cleared to begin its descent? Of course not. The plane
“arrive[d] in Newark” when it touched Newark ground.
After all, the passengers could not rush through the airport
until the plane physically landed.
Other sources describe dignitaries who “arrive[d] in” a
city to attend a summit. To attend the summit, of course, the
dignitaries must have been physically present. Nelson
Mandela, for example, “arrives in New York” and is
“greeted with a ticket-tape parade and crowds of
thousands.” 5 Clearly, to parade through New York,
Mandela was inside the Empire State—not standing just
across the river in Jersey City.
“arrives in” to describe either when something arrives (“arrives in two
hours”) or how it arrives (“arrives in a bad mood”). Setting aside those
58, 161 results use “arrives in” to describe a location. See Appendix 1.
4
Valerie Lister, Road Trip: The Women’s Pro Basketball Way, USA
Today (1996), relevant text available at Corpus of Contemporary
American English, https://www.english-corpora.org/coca (last accessed
Sep. 18, 2024).
5
Barbara Reynolds, Mandela’s Visit, USA Today (1990), relevant text
available at Corpus of Contemporary American English,
https://www.english-corpora.org/coca (last accessed Sep. 18, 2024).
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 53
Finally, consider an example from the great American
sport: “As the pitch arrives in the catcher’s hands, the
catcher digs in to take on [the runner].” 6 A pitch “arrives in”
the catcher’s hands when it physically lands in the mitt. Not
when leaving the pitcher’s hand, flying through the air, or
even spinning inches from the catcher’s outstretched mitt.
We could go on and discuss all 161 usages. But the
underlying point is clear. English speakers use “arrives in”
to mean standing within a destination, not outside. 7 The
majority does not identity a counterexample. Nor does it
deny what this linguistic data suggests: its interpretation of
“arrives in” is not only unnatural, but unheard of. 8 See Maj.
at 19 n.5.
6
Cobb (1994), relevant text available at Corpus of Contemporary
American English, https://www.english-corpora.org/coca (last accessed
Sep. 18, 2024).
7
Of the 161 examples, one usage is arguable. A TV script said, “the
elevator arrives in the hall, bringing more people.” Metropolis (1995),
relevant text available at Corpus of Contemporary American English,
https://www.english-corpora.org/coca (last accessed Sep. 18, 2024).
Perhaps one could argue that elevators are at a hall’s border, not
physically inside. But even so, one ambiguous example out of 161 does
not show that “arrives in” ordinarily means to stand at a destination’s
border. If anything, the (arguable) exception proves the rule. To “arrive
in” a location is unambiguous and means only one thing: to be physically
inside.
8
The majority notes that neither party relied on corpus linguistics. Maj.
at 19 n.5. But both parties extensively briefed the ordinary meaning of
“arrives in.” And when interpreting a statute, we are not limited to the
tools the parties cite, just as we are not limited to the caselaw cited by
the parties when evaluating a legal proposition. See Muscarello v.
United States, 524 U.S. 125, 129 (1998) (relying on corpus linguistics
when neither party briefed the tool).
54 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
Instead, the majority emphasizes that statutory language
must be understood in context. Id. at 19 n.5, 21 n.7. I agree.
Statutory interpretation must determine how words are
ordinarily understood, and ordinary English speakers
leverage context to convey and interpret meaning. It’s
because of context, after all, that we easily distinguish
“drove the sheep into the pen” from “used the pen to sign a
contract.” But context never justifies giving a term a
meaning that it cannot bear. See Taniguchi, 566 U.S. at 569
(using context only after determining a term “can
encompass” two meanings); see also King, 576 U.S. at 500–
01 (Scalia, J., dissenting). That is why the sentence “used
the corral to sign the contract” leaves readers scratching their
heads. Unlike “pen,” the term “corral” simply does not mean
a writing instrument, even if all the context suggests it might.
So too here. Dictionaries catalogue the possible uses of
“arrives in,” and linguistic evidence indicates which of those
uses are ordinary. Together, these tools confirm that “arrives
in” simply cannot mean standing outside a destination’s
border. No amount of context can change that linguistic fact.
See Taniguchi, 566 U.S. at 569.
Here, moreover, the context supports the plain meaning.
I discuss other contextual clues below, see infra at 57–58,
but two points are worth emphasis here. First, contrary to
the majority’s suggestion, the fact that the statute covers an
alien “who arrives in the United States (whether or not at a
designated port of arrival)” does not alter the plain meaning
of “arrives in.” Maj. at 20–21 & n.7. The parenthetical
clarifies that the statute applies to immigrants who arrived
through designated entry ports and those who crossed the
border elsewhere. It does not mean that immigrants who
have yet to enter an arrival port have somehow arrived in the
United States. Contra id. Because entry ports are part of the
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 55
United States, an immigrant “arrives in the United States”
whether she stands on Ellis Island or in rural Texas. But
either way, the immigrant does not “arrive in” until she steps
onto United States soil.
Second, the majority suggests that because “arrives in”
appears in the context of a statute, the only relevant linguistic
evidence is other statutory language. Maj. at 19 n.5. Why
would that be? Congress presumably uses words “in their
natural sense.” Gibbons v. Ogden, 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.) 1, 71
(1824). So evidence of how “arrives in” is used in everyday
contexts is highly probative. See Muscarello, 524 U.S. at
129 (citing dictionaries and “searching computerized
newspaper databases” to determine a word’s ordinary
meaning); United States v. Costello, 666 F.3d 1040, 1044
(7th Cir. 2012) (Posner, J.) (relying on dictionaries and a
Google search). Even so, other statutes use “arrives in” in
its ordinary sense. See 22 U.S.C. § 2507a(c) (providing for
training “[o]nce a volunteer has arrived in” a country). One
provision, for example, states that aliens who arrive in the
United States at undesignated times or locations are
inadmissible. 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i). Are immigrants
who approach border agents after hours therefore
inadmissible? What about Mexican citizens who come
within 20 feet of an undesignated portion of the border? Of
course not. Congress, like ordinary English speakers, uses
“arrives in” to mean those physically present, not those
standing in Mexico—or as the majority calls it—“on the
United States’ doorstep.” Maj. at 31 n.11.
In sum, the linguistic data confirms what dictionaries and
intuition suggest: for a person to “arrive in the United
States,” she must arrive “in the United States”—“there is no
in-between.” Al Otro Lado, 952 F.3d at 1028 (Bress, J.,
dissenting).
56 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
Today, the majority divines an “in-between.” Moving
forward, a person who “encounter[s] officials at the border,”
Maj. at 20, is “on the United States’ doorstep,” Maj. at 31
n.11, or is “in the process of arriving” in the United States,
Maj. at 15, 46, may apply for asylum.
The majority leaves each phrase ambiguously open-
ended. At any rate, none of these phrases appears in the text.
The statute does not say “encounter officials at the border.”
It does not say “on the United States’ doorstep.” Nor does it
say “in the process of arriving.” It says “arrives in.” No
amount of context justifies the majority’s redlining of
Congress’s statutory language.
In a half-hearted attempt to change the statutory text, the
majority cites a single dictionary definition for “arrive.”
Maj. at 20–21. But, again, the statute says “arrives in,” not
just “arrive.” And why credit that single definition over all
the other evidence discussed above? The majority does not
say. Nor does the majority explain how “arrives in” can
mean “at the border,” “on the doorstep,” or “in the process
of arriving” when each phrase has a historically different
meaning.
More than being wrong, the majority’s conclusion is
harmful. Judicial redlining of statutes, as the majority does
here, undercuts Congress’s authority, eliminates citizens’
ability to rely on the law, and erodes democracy, allowing
unelected judges to revise the decisions of the People’s
representatives.
There is more. Borders define the very bounds of a
nation’s sovereign power. Border, Black’s Law Dictionary
(12th ed. 2024) (“The boundary between one country (or a
political subdivision) and another.”). They also protect a
country from those outside it and are, by their nature,
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 57
exclusionary. Thus, the Supreme Court has recognized a
“longstanding concern for the protection of the integrity of
the border.” United States v. Montoya de Hernandez, 473
U.S. 531, 538 (1985). So strong is that interest that even
constitutional rights yield when “[b]alanced against the
sovereign’s interests at the border.” Id. at 539. The majority
subverts these interests. It treats those in Mexico—but
ambiguously close to the border—as if they were “in” the
United States. And it assumes that Congress implicitly set
aside constitutional principles that, for centuries, have
uniformly been applied to protect our border.
The statutory language forecloses the majority’s
interpretation. A person at the border, but on the Mexican
side, might be close to the United States. She might have
arrived at the United States border. But until she crosses the
border, she has not arrived in the United States. This is not
just the best reading of the statute; it is the only reading. The
majority has not pointed to any example in which “arrives
in” means anything besides crossing the border into the
destination. We would expect Congress to use clearer
language to subvert long-established border protections.
2
The statute’s context reinforces the unambiguous plain
meaning. Another provision, § 1225, provides for the
expedited removal of noncitizens “from the United States.”
8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(1)(A)(i) (emphasis added). As the
Supreme Court has explained, § 1225 allows applicants for
admission to “avoid expedited removal by claiming
asylum.” DHS v. Thuraissigiam, 591 U.S. 103, 109 (2020);
see also United States v. Gambino-Ruiz, 91 F.4th 981, 985
(9th Cir. 2024). We have explained that the statute “ensures
that all immigrants who have not been lawfully admitted,
58 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
regardless of their physical presence in the country, are . . .
‘applicant[s] for admission.’” Torres v. Barr, 976 F.3d 918,
928 (9th Cir. 2020) (en banc) (quoting § 1225(a)(1)).
The majority reads “regardless of their physical presence
in the country” to mean that the expedited removal
protections can be avoided even when an alien is outside the
country. But that line is better understood to make asylum
available to those subject to expedited removal regardless of
whether they are in a port of entry or elsewhere within the
country. After all, a person not yet in the United States
cannot be “removed” from it.
This conclusion further follows from the fact that
Congress provided separate protections for immigrants who
have not yet arrived in the United States. See 8 U.S.C.
§ 1157. The Supreme Court has explained that § 1157, and
not § 1158, “governs the admission of refugees who seek
admission from foreign countries.” INS v. Cardoza-
Fonseca, 480 U.S. 421, 433 (1987). The majority’s reading
places aliens on the Mexican side of the border in a
penumbral zone where they can apply for refugee status
under § 1157 or for asylum under § 1158. Thus, while the
statutory scheme applies different protections to an alien
based on her location—either in the United States or out of
it—the majority’s reading creates a fiction where these
aliens are entitled to both.
In no other statute has Congress provided more asylum
protection to aliens outside the United States than those
inside. On the contrary, Congress consistently provides
foreign aliens fewer protections, as § 1157 demonstrates.
Thus, it makes sense that § 1158 applies only to those
physically within the United States.
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 59
3
History and precedent further support this conclusion.
We have long treated aliens who arrive at a port of entry “as
if stopped at the border” even if they are “on U.S. soil.”
Thuraissigiam, 591 U.S. at 139 (quotation omitted). This is
called the “entry fiction.” Maj. at 22–23. For at least a
century, our immigration laws have treated those at ports of
entry as though they have not “entered the country.”
Thuraissigiam, 591 U.S. at 139. An alien who arrived at
Ellis Island, for example, “was to be regarded as stopped at
the boundary line and kept there unless and until her right to
enter should be declared.” Kaplan v. Tod, 267 U.S. 228, 230
(1925). So it makes sense that in § 1158, Congress listed
both those who “arrive in the United States” and those
already “physically present.” By so doing, Congress
clarified that, despite the entry fiction, those who just
crossed the border can apply for asylum on the same terms
as someone who is otherwise “physically present.”
The majority resists this conclusion. It notes that the
entry fiction is just that—a fiction. Whether or not aliens in
ports of entry are legally deemed to be outside the country,
they are nonetheless physically present. That is true. But
that is hardly a reason to set aside the statute’s plain
meaning. And, given the entry fiction’s long history,
Congress can hardly be faulted for going out of its way to
respond to it. Congress clarified that the two categories of
aliens contemplated in § 1158 and § 1225—those physically
present and those just arriving in the United States—can
apply for asylum. This belt-and-suspenders approach makes
sense, and it cleanly supports the statute’s plain meaning.
60 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
Thus, text, history, and precedent all point in one
direction. An alien “arrives in the United States” only when
she crosses the border into it.
B
The majority ignores or diminishes this text, history, and
precedent. It engages in “textual backflips to find some
way[,] any way,” Fischer v. United States, 144 S. Ct. 2176,
2195 (2024) (Barrett, J., dissenting), to conclude that aliens
in Mexico have arrived in the United States. Each attempt
fails.
1
The majority begins with the rule against surplusage.
Because the majority deems it “possible to give
nonredundant meaning to those two categories,” it concludes
it must give “arrives in the United States” a different
meaning than “physically present in the United States.” Maj.
at 20.
But as I have already suggested, there is no surplusage.
The phrase “arrives in” addresses the entry fiction, ensuring
that those in ports of entry can apply for asylum just like
those who are otherwise physically present in the United
States. Thus, “arrives in” does not totally overlap with
“physically present;” it plays a meaningful, independent role
in the statute. Contra Maj. at 20 n.6.
Even if the majority were right that “arrives in” and
“physically present” totally overlap, id., that would not
justify disregarding the statute’s plain meaning. True, courts
often presume that ordinary speakers of English avoid
surplusage. But the presumption is just that—a presumption.
As anyone who has read a contract or deed knows,
surplusage is common. Moskal v. United States, 498 U.S.
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 61
103, 120 (1990) (Scalia, J., dissenting) (“give, grant,
bargain, sell, and convey” (quotation omitted)); Freeman v.
Quicken Loans, Inc., 566 U.S. 624, 635 (2012). And, in any
case, the presumption “should not be used to distort ordinary
meaning.” Moskal, 498 U.S. at 120 (Scalia, J., dissenting).
“Sometimes the better overall reading of the statute contains
some redundancy.” Barton v. Barr, 590 U.S. 222, 239
(2020) (quotation omitted). Courts should “tolerate a degree
of surplusage rather than adopt a textually dubious
construction.” United States v. Atl. Rsch. Corp., 551 U.S.
128, 137 (2007); A. Scalia & B. Garner, Reading Law: The
Interpretation of Legal Texts 177–78 (2012). After all,
ordinary meaning—not nonduplicative meaning—is the
lodestar in statutory interpretation. The statute’s ordinary
meaning is clear, and the presumption against surplusage
does not justify rewriting it.
2
The majority next turns to the 1980 version of the statue.
The majority urges that its interpretation is not “breaking
new ground” because that prior version allowed aliens “at a
land border or port of entry” to apply for asylum. Maj. at 24
(quoting 8 U.S.C. § 1158(a) (1980)). Because this forty-
five-year-old statute used language that—in the majority’s
view—allowed aliens on the Mexican side of the border to
apply for asylum, the majority argues that its interpretation
of the current statute “does not radically expand” the asylum
right. Id.
No court, however, interpreted the 1980 statute like the
majority does now. Al Otro Lado, 952 F.3d at 1029 (Bress,
J., dissenting). That concern aside, the meaning of the 1980
statute cannot change the meaning of the 1996 statute now
before us.
62 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
“If anything, the [amendment] history suggests the
opposite” of what the majority suggests. Trump v. Hawaii,
585 U.S. 667, 692 (2018). That Congress replaced “at a land
border” with “arrives in the United States” suggests that it
understood the terms to have different meanings. After all,
when Congress amends a statute, “we presume it intends its
amendment to have real and substantial effect.” Stone v.
INS, 514 U.S. 386, 397 (1995). Thus, the better view is that
Congress resolved whatever ambiguity existed in “at” by
using “in” in the 1996 statute. See supra at 49–51.
The majority suggests that the 1996 act did not
substantively change the law. Maj. at 24–25 & n.9. But
Congress used language in 1996 that differs in meaning from
the 1980 statute. We cannot disregard a statute’s amendment
history simply by declaring that the statute’s new terms—
though quite different—mean the same thing as the old
terms. Yet that is what the majority does. It claims the
amendment had no practical impact. And it provides no
textual analysis to support this ipse dixit.
Moreover, we have already rejected the majority’s
suggestion that the 1996 amendments were minor. As we
have noted, those amendments made “large scale changes to
the INA.” Gonzales v. DHS, 508 F.3d 1227, 1229 (9th Cir.
2007). Other circuits agree. Groccia v. Reno, 234 F.3d 758,
759 (1st Cir. 2000) (“In 1996, Congress made massive
changes to the immigration laws.”); Acevedo v. Barr, 943
F.3d 619, 623 n.6 (2d Cir. 2019) (enacted “comprehensive
immigration reform”); Prestol-Espinal v. Att’y Gen. of U.S.,
653 F.3d 213, 216, 222 n.9 (3d Cir. 2011) (“significant
changes”); Renteria-Gonzalez v. INS, 322 F.3d 804, 809 (5th
Cir. 2002) (“amend[ed] the [INA] in dozens of important but
technical ways”). That overhaul went only one direction—
the 1996 act was “widely regarded as placing important new
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 63
limits on immigration.” Al Otro Lado, 952 F.3d at 1029
(Bress, J., dissenting). So even that major overhaul did not,
as the majority concludes, collapse § 1158 into § 1157 and
drastically expand asylum protections.
In any case, the majority is of two minds with respect to
the reach of the 1980 statute. When citing it as evidence of
the 1996 statute’s meaning, it assures the public that the
1996 amendments were minor. Everything changes when
the majority claims the 1996 amendments abrogated two
binding cases. Maj. at 26–27. In INS v. Cardoza-Fonseca,
480 U.S. at 433, the Supreme Court explained that § 1158
sets out the process by which refugees “currently in the
United States” can get asylum. We recognized the same in
Yang v. INS, 79 F.3d 932, 938 (9th Cir. 1996). After waiving
away those unambiguous statements as mere “general
background summaries,” the majority says these cases are
not helpful anyway because they reference the prior version
of § 1158. Maj. at 26. But this just shows that the Supreme
Court thought even the prior version of § 1158, which used
the much broader “at a land border” applied only on our side
of the border. Further, if the majority is correct that the 1996
changes were “minor,” then it is hard to say that those
changes extended the statute’s protections to aliens in
another country.
In any event, the majority errs in waiving away the clear
language of Cardoza-Fonseca and Yang. Those cases
recognized that § 1158 applied only to people “in the United
States” because the statute’s plain meaning compelled that
conclusion. Never has our court—or any other court—
concluded that § 1158 applies to aliens who seek admission
from foreign countries. The reason is clear. As discussed
above, such aliens—including Plaintiffs—can seek refugee
64 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
status under § 1157. 9 Cardoza-Fonseca, 480 U.S. at 433.
So if anything, the 1996 amendments confirm that aliens can
apply for asylum only when they have entered the United
States.
3
Even if the majority could show that “arrives in the
United States” ordinarily references those just outside the
United States, its analysis still falls short. For at most, the
majority could show that “arrives in” is ambiguous. And the
Supreme Court has instructed us to apply a presumption
against extraterritoriality to ambiguous statutes.
“Congress ordinarily legislates with respect to domestic,
not foreign, matters.” Morrison v. Nat’l Australia Bank Ltd.,
561 U.S. 247, 255 (2010). Thus, “[w]hen a statute gives no
clear indication of an extraterritorial application, it has
none.” Id.
True, Congress need not enact an “express statement of
extraterritoriality” to overcome the presumption. RJR
Nabisco, Inc. v. Eur. Cmty., 579 U.S. 325, 340 (2016). But
it must provide “a clear indication of extraterritorial effect.”
Id. Only the “rare statute” will meet this standard without
“an express statement of extraterritoriality.” Id.
The majority skirts this presumption. After laying out
the rule, the majority rejects it in a single paragraph. In the
9
At least one of our sister circuits disagrees with the majority’s
conclusion that Congress silently collapsed the differences between
§ 1157 and § 1158. See Cela v. Garland, 75 F.4th 355, 361 n.9 (4th Cir.
2023) (“Unlike aliens granted asylum—who are physically present in the
United States or arrive in the United States when they seek asylum—
aliens admitted as refugees seek admission to the United States from
foreign countries.” (citing Cardoza-Fonseca, 480 U.S. at 433)).
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 65
process, the panel so “eliminat[es] or water[s] down the
presumption” that the “result[] i[s] purposivism.” Scalia &
Bryan, supra, at 272.
The majority suggests that Sections 1158 and 1225
contain an “indication of extraterritorial reach” because they
do not expressly limit their reach to those inside the United
States. Maj. at 30–31. But this flips the presumption on its
head. Rather than presuming that these provisions lack
extraterritorial effect, the majority presumes that they apply
in Mexico because Congress did not say otherwise. Worse,
perhaps recognizing the limitless reach of § 1158 and § 1225
in the presumption’s absence, the majority artificially limits
its interpretation by saying that the statutes “do[] not . . .
extend worldwide.” Id. The majority assures the public that
the statutes reach only those noncitizens that are “on [the
United States’] doorstep.” Id. This line drawing finds no
harbor in any interpretive tool, let alone the statute’s text.
The majority just makes it up.
Next, the majority relies on our cases involving “conduct
that almost always originates outside the United States.”
United States v. Ubaldo, 859 F.3d 690, 700 (9th Cir. 2017).
Immigration always originates outside the United States. So,
applying Ubaldo, the majority eliminates the presumption
against extraterritoriality from the entire immigration code.
Ubaldo cannot bear this weight. If Ubaldo exempted all
immigration law from the presumption, some case—any
case—would have noted that remarkable result. None does.
To the contrary, the Supreme Court has stated the opposite:
statutes applying extraterritorially without an express
statement are “rare.” RJR Nabisco, 579 U.S. at 340.
The majority’s reliance on Ubaldo departs from how the
Supreme Court has applied the presumption to other
66 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
provisions of the INA—all of which, under the majority’s
new Ubaldo reading, would have extraterritorial effect. For
example, in Sale v. Haitian Ctrs. Council, Inc., 509 U.S. 155,
173–74 (1993), the Supreme Court decided that § 243(h)(1)
of the INA lacked extraterritorial effect. At the time, that
provision forbade the Attorney General from “deport[ing] or
return[ing] any alien . . . to a country” if that alien qualified
as a refugee. 8 U.S.C. § 1253(h)(1) (1988). Despite that
clear statutory mandate, the President “directed the Coast
Guard to intercept vessels illegally transporting passengers
from Haiti to the United States and to return those passengers
to Haiti without first determining whether they may qualify
as refugees.” Sale, 509 U.S. at 158. In holding that
§ 243(h)(1)’s statutory mandate did not apply on the high
seas, the Court explained that the presumption against
extraterritoriality applies with “special force when . . .
construing . . . statutory provisions that may involve foreign
and military affairs for which the President has unique
responsibility.” Id. at 188.
As Sale makes clear, the INA—which sets our Nation’s
immigration’s policies—is one such statute. Later cases
make this point more forcefully. In Trump v. Hawaii, the
Supreme Court reversed our court after we failed to
recognize that “the admission and exclusion of foreign
nationals is a ‘fundamental sovereign attribute exercised by
the Government’s political departments largely immune
from judicial control.’” 585 U.S. at 702 (quoting Fiallo v.
Bell, 430 U.S. 787, 792 (1977)).
That fundamental sovereign attribute applies here with
just as much “special force” as in Sale given the executive’s
“unique responsibility” to govern immigration. The
majority provides no reason to the contrary—it just says that
there are “significant differences” between the high seas and
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 67
the border. Maj. at 31 n.11. But the majority takes no pains
to explain why those differences affect the presumption
against extraterritoriality. Nor could it. Despite those
differences, the Supreme Court “has generally treated the
high seas the same as foreign soil for purposes of the
presumption against extraterritorial application.” Kiobel v.
Royal Dutch Petrol. Co., 569 U.S. 108, 121 (2013)
(emphasis added) (citing Sale as an example). Thus, the
Supreme Court has expressly rejected the majority’s attempt
to distinguish Sale. Maj. at 31 n.11.
Even if there were ambiguity in the statute (there is not),
the majority cannot overcome the presumption against
extraterritoriality. That presumption confirms that § 1158
applies only to aliens who have crossed the border.
4
The majority next argues that its interpretation is
necessary to avoid a perverse incentive for aliens to enter the
United States somewhere other than a designated port of
entry. Maj. at 21–22 (quoting Thuraissigiam, 591 U.S.
at 140). 10 This argument is grounded in the presumption
against ineffectiveness, which provides that interpretations
that “further[] rather than obstruct[] the document’s
purpose” are to be favored. See Scalia & Garner, supra, at
63.
This presumption prevents interpretations that would
“enable offenders to elude its provisions in the most easy
10
Thuraissigiam addresses perverse incentives in a single sentence and
only after the Supreme Court had rejected all other textual arguments.
591 U.S. at 140. That case provides weak support for the majority’s
reliance on the presumption against ineffectiveness, particularly because
the majority uses the presumption to avoid the text’s plain meaning.
68 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
manner.” Garland v. Cargill, 602 U.S. 406, 428 (2024)
(quoting The Emily, 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.) 381, 389 (1824)).
But like all presumptions, it is rebuttable. The majority’s
reliance on this presumption is misplaced for at least two
reasons. First, as with the other interpretive canons, the
presumption only applies to textually permissible
interpretations. Scalia & Garner, supra, at 63. As already
explained, the majority’s interpretation is not textually
permissible.
Second, the presumption does not allow courts to
supplant or “rewrite statutory text” just because a bad actor
might evade the statute to avoid an interpretation that its
plain text requires. Cargill, 602 U.S. at 428 (quotation
omitted).
Cargill illustrates this principle. There, the Supreme
Court considered whether semiautomatic rifles equipped
with a bump-stock device are machineguns as defined by
statute. 26 U.S.C. § 5845(b) defines machineguns as
weapons that can fire more than one shot “automatically . . .
by a single function of the trigger.” Bump stocks allow a
semiautomatic rifle to fire quickly, but they still require a
shooter to “reset the trigger between every shot.” Cargill,
602 U.S. at 415. Faced with these facts, the Supreme Court
concluded that, although bump-stock-equipped
semiautomatic rifles can fire at rates that approach those of
true machineguns, they were not machineguns as defined in
the statute. In so concluding, the Court rejected arguments
grounded in the presumption against ineffectiveness. Id.
at 427–28. The Court applied the statute’s plain meaning—
even if that meaning would undermine the statute’s overall
purpose in some applications.
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 69
As in Cargill, adopting the statute’s plain meaning may
well have perverse consequences. And those consequences
may well undermine the very purpose of the INA—to
regulate the border in an orderly fashion. But those
consequences exist under any interpretation of the statute.
The several hoops through which aliens must jump when
seeking admission to the United States already encourage
millions to enter the country at unlawful locations. And even
though laws require those procedures, “it remains relatively
easy for individuals to enter the United States,” and often
“without detection.” United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, 428
U.S. 543, 552 (1976). Our cases are full of examples of
aliens doing just that. See United States v. Gambino-Ruiz,
91 F.4th 981, 983–84 (9th Cir. 2024) (discussing one alien
who repeatedly illegally crossed the border at various
points). This reality does not give the majority a blank check
to cash any atextual interpretation. Nor may the majority
adopt a textually impermissible interpretation just to avoid
perverse incentives.
In sum, the statute’s plain text precludes the majority’s
interpretation. But even if the statute were ambiguous, the
presumption against extraterritoriality, properly applied,
supports the plain meaning. The majority’s attempts to find
a workaround fail. All roads lead to the same conclusion:
an alien “arrives in the United States” only when she crosses
the border.
II
After erroneously holding that the government has a duty
to process asylum seekers in Mexico, the majority narrowly
defines what it means for the government to “withh[old]”
that duty. See 5 U.S.C. § 706(1). The majority assures the
government that it retains broad discretion to decide how to
70 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
process asylum seekers in Mexico. And it suggests that the
government could comply with its duty simply by keeping a
list of potential asylum seekers. Maj. at 36.
The majority’s narrow interpretation of “withholding”
limits the practical impact of its opinion. Indeed, because
the government retains broad discretion to limit access to
asylum, plaintiffs just across the border likely will still not
get any relief—despite the majority’s expansive reading of
“arrives in.” That is a salutary effect. But the way the
majority gets there—narrowly interpreting “withholding”—
is wrong. And two wrongs do not make a right.
Section 706(1) of the APA requires us to compel agency
action if it is either “withheld or unreasonably delayed.” 5
U.S.C. § 706(1). Under this section, “the only agency action
that can be compelled under the APA is action legally
required.” Norton v. S. Utah Wilderness All., 542 U.S. 55,
63 (2004) (emphasis in original). Even when an organic
statute requires agency action, it may not require immediate
agency action. Unless the statute imposes a deadline,
agencies need only complete their statutory duties “within a
reasonable time.” 5 U.S.C. § 555(b).
We have held that agency action is “withheld” when
“Congress has specifically provided a deadline for
performance.” Biodiversity Legal Found. v. Badgley, 309
F.3d 1166, 1177 n.11 (9th Cir. 2002). We explained that the
“failure to complete” the required agency action “within the
mandated time frame compelled the court to grant injunctive
relief.” 11 Id. at 1178.
11
Although we did not analyze the text of § 706(1) in Badgley, the Fourth
Circuit correctly recognized that, by declining to apply the unreasonable-
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 71
Other circuits follow a similar approach. In the D.C.
Circuit, agency action is withheld when “agency inaction
violates a clear duty to take a particular action by a date
certain.” Sierra Club v. Thomas, 828 F.2d 783, 794 (D.C.
Cir. 1987). 12 The Fourth Circuit similarly recognizes that
“an agency’s failure to meet a hard statutory deadline” is
withholding. South Carolina, 907 F.3d at 760. So too the
Tenth Circuit, which has concluded that agency action is
withheld only if “Congress imposed a date-certain deadline
on agency action” that the agency fails to meet. Forest
Guardians v. Babbitt, 174 F.3d 1178, 1190 (10th Cir. 1999).
The weight of authority—including our opinion in
Badgley—thus provides that agency action is withheld only
when an agency fails to act by a statutory deadline. Rather
than create a circuit split, we should follow this clear
consensus. Applying that standard here, the government did
not withhold one of its duties. The statute does not impose
any deadline on the government’s obligation to process
asylum seekers (assuming an obligation exists). So not even
the majority argues that the government “withheld” agency
action under this standard.
Instead, the majority concludes that we have already
rejected this standard. It reaches this conclusion based on a
delay factors, we necessarily concluded that the agency action was
“unlawfully withheld.” South Carolina v. United States, 907 F.3d 742,
760 (4th Cir. 2018) (citing Badgley, 309 F.3d at 1176–77 & n.11).
12
The D.C. Circuit recognizes that “[a]n agency’s own timetable for
performing its duties in the absence of a statutory deadline is due
‘considerable deference.’” Cobell v. Norton, 240 F.3d 1081, 1096 (D.C.
Cir. 2001) (quoting Sierra Club v. Gorsuch, 715 F.2d 653, 658 (D.C. Cir.
1983)). This suggests that it is difficult, if not impossible, for an agency
to withhold an action in the absence of a statutory deadline.
72 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
questionable reading of Vietnam Veterans of Am. v. CIA, 811
F.3d 1068, 1081 (9th Cir. 2016). There, we granted relief
under the APA under a statute that did not impose a deadline.
The majority concludes that, because we did not address
whether agency action was unreasonably delayed, we must
have decided that the government “withheld” its obligations.
At the start, Vietnam Veterans was decided more than a
decade after Badgley. To the extent there is any conflict,
Badgley—which held that a missed deadline was
withholding, not delay—controls. 13
In any event, the majority overreads Vietnam Veterans.
It concedes that Vietnam Veterans did not analyze “whether
the Army’s failure to comply with the regulation constituted
withholding or delay under the APA.” Maj. at 33. Rather,
we held that the Army had a mandatory obligation
enforceable under § 706(1)—without deciding whether the
Army withheld or delayed action. Thus, Vietnam Veterans
cannot have defined what it means for agency action to be
“withheld.”
The majority concludes otherwise, arguing that the only
possible conclusion in Vietnam Veterans was that the
“failure to act constituted withholding.” Id. This cannot
withstand scrutiny. First, for a century, the Supreme Court
13
To circumvent Badgley, the majority notes that Badgley held a
statutory deadline was a sufficient (but not necessary) condition for
withholding. Maj. at 34 n.13. But the majority fails to identify another
case addressing the distinction between withholding and delay. Badgley
is the closest we have. Even so, the relevant question is not whether a
statutory deadline is necessary or sufficient for withholding. The
relevant question is instead whether the government “withheld” an
obligation (rather than “delayed” it) when it told aliens to come back
later.
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 73
has cautioned that “[q]uestions which merely lurk in the
record, neither brought to the attention of the court nor ruled
upon, are not to be considered as having been so decided as
to constitute precedents.” Cooper Indus. v. Aviall Servs.,
Inc., 543 U.S. 157, 170 (2004) (quoting Webster v. Fall, 266
U.S. 507, 511 (1925)). We have applied that rule to issues
lurking in our own cases. See Schram v. Robertson, 111 F.2d
722, 725 (9th Cir. 1940). And it should govern with greater
force here. The briefing in Vietnam Veterans suggests that
the issue litigated was not whether a duty was withheld or
delayed, but whether there was a duty at all. 14 In Badgley,
by contrast, the government argued—and we rejected—that
any deviation from the statutorily mandated deadline was
reasonable delay. 309 F.3d at 1177 n.11. Thus Badgley, not
Vietnam Veterans, governs whether agency inaction
constitutes withholding.
Second, Vietnam Veterans is distinguishable. Here, the
government told Plaintiffs—like it told all other metered
aliens—to come back to the overwhelmed port of entry for
processing later. The Army in Vietnam Veterans, by
contrast, gave no indication that it would ever take the
actions the plaintiffs sought. See generally Vietnam
Veterans, 811 F.3d at 1068. Unlike in Vietnam Veterans,
the government has not “withheld” any duty to process
asylum applications. At most, it has delayed that duty.
14
See generally Opening Brief of Appellants, Vietnam Veterans, 811
F.3d at 1068; Opening Brief for Defendants-Appellees/Cross-
Appellants, Vietnam Veterans, 811 F.3d at 1068; Appellants’/Cross-
Appellees’ Reply Brief and Opposition to Cross-Appeal, Vietnam
Veterans, 811 F.3d at 1068; Reply Brief for Defendants-
Appellees/Cross-Appellants, Vietnam Veterans, 811 F.3d at 1068.
74 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
Unmoored from precedent, the majority’s sweeping new
rule—that the government withholds a duty whenever it
“refuses to accept, in any form, a request that it take a
required action” for any period is indefensible. Maj. at 34.
The majority’s rule swallows the distinction between
“withheld” and “delayed” agency action. After all, the
government did not say it would never process Plaintiffs. It
merely told those aliens who were turned away to come back
when the Ports of Entry were not overwhelmed. That is a far
cry from “refus[ing] to accept” a duty to interview those
aliens.
In any event, as even Vietnam Veterans recognizes, “the
operation of § 706(1) is restricted to discrete actions that are
unequivocally compelled by statute or regulation.” Vietnam
Veterans, 811 F.3d at 1081. That obligation must be “so
clearly set forth that it could traditionally have been enforced
through a writ of mandamus.” Id. at 1076 (quoting Hells
Canyon Pres. Council v. U.S. Forest Serv., 593 F.3d 923,
932 (9th Cir. 2010)). The majority does not even try to
explain how its withholding rule satisfies this standard.
To the contrary, the majority suggests the government
would not have “withheld” its duty to process aliens if it had
kept a waitlist or immediately initiated the asylum process.
Maj. at 36. But under Vietnam Veterans, we can grant
§ 706(1) relief only if the statute “unequivocally compels”
those actions. The relevant statute says nothing about a
waitlist or immediate processing. Thus, the majority
imposes on agencies a requirement to do “that which [they
are] not required to do.” In re A Cmty. Voice, 878 F.3d 779,
784 (9th Cir. 2017). Section 706(1) gives the majority no
such authority. See Norton, 542 U.S. at 63.
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 75
The good news is the majority’s error is limited. If—as
the majority concludes—“[e]ven minimal steps,” such as
keeping a waitlist, would evade the majority’s rule and “shift
the § 706(1) analysis . . . from the withholding category into
the delay category,” then the majority’s rule is good for this
case only. Maj. at 36. But the narrowness of the majority’s
conclusion only limits its harm; it does not make it legally
correct. We should reverse the grant of summary judgment
to Plaintiffs on their § 706(1) claim and vacate the
corresponding injunction.
III
Plaintiffs’ other claims also fail.
A
The majority properly vacates the injunction based on
Plaintiffs’ Due Process claim. It does so, however, on
constitutional avoidance grounds. Maj. at 37. I would reject
the claim on the merits.
“[M]ore than a century of precedent” establishes that
aliens denied entry have no Due Process rights beyond “the
procedure authorized by Congress.” Thuraissigiam, 591
U.S. at 138–39 (quotation omitted). In other words, arriving
noncitizens’ procedural rights “are purely statutory in nature
and are not derived from, or protected by, the Constitution’s
Due Process Clause.” Mendoza-Linares v. Garland, 51
F.4th 1146, 1167 (9th Cir. 2022). Plaintiffs thus warrant no
relief on their Due Process claim.
B
Plaintiffs also raise a claim under § 706(2) of the APA.
The district court did not reach this claim. But I would
dismiss this claim as moot because the memoranda
76 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
promulgating the metering policy were rescinded years ago.
See Akiachak Native Cmty. v. Dep’t of Interior, 827 F.3d
100, 113 (D.C. Cir. 2016) (“[W]hen an agency has rescinded
and replaced a challenged regulation, litigation over the
legality of the original regulation becomes moot.”).
Even if the § 706(2) claim remained live, it fails on the
merits. The metering policy was a lawful exercise of the
government’s authority to “[s]ecur[e] the borders,” 6 U.S.C.
§ 202(2), (8), and the ability to admit aliens falls within the
Executive’s inherent powers, United States ex rel. Knauff v.
Shaughnessy, 338 U.S. 537, 543 (1950). The government’s
exercise of its inherent authority was reasonable given the
pressures it faced at the border when it enacted the metering
policy.
C
Finally, Plaintiffs raise a claim under the Alien Tort
Statute (ATS), arguing that the metering policy violated the
international-law norm of non-refoulement. This claim also
lacks merit.
The ATS gives district courts “original jurisdiction of
any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in
violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United
States.” 28 U.S.C. § 1350. This modest statute is an
ordinary jurisdictional statute. It does not say when an
action violates the law of nations or a federal treaty. Nor
does it say which torts properly fall within its reach.
In Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, the Supreme Court
established a path for “recogni[zing] . . . new causes of
action” under the ATS. Doe v. Cisco Sys., Inc., 73 F.4th 700,
714 (9th Cir. 2023) (citing Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, 542
U.S. 692, 728 (2004)). Gratefully, that path is exceedingly
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 77
narrow. The bar for recognizing a new cause of action is
“high.” Sosa, 542 U.S. at 727. The ATS creates a cause of
action only for “violations of international law norms that
are ‘specific, universal, and obligatory.’” Kiobel, 569 U.S.
at 117 (citing Sosa, 542 U.S. at 732). 15 But even identifying
such a norm is not enough—once identified, courts then
apply a second, “extraordinarily strict” step of asking
whether there is “even one” reason to think that Congress
might “doubt the efficacy or necessity of the new remedy.”
Nestle USA, Inc. v. Doe, 593 U.S. 628, 637 (2021) (plurality
op.) (quotation omitted). If the answer to the second
question is “yes,” then “courts must refrain from creating [a]
remedy” for even a specific, universal, and obligatory norm.
Jesner v. Arab Bank, PLC, 584 U.S. 241, 264 (2018)
(quotation omitted).
Since both steps must be met, private rights of action
under the ATS are available only “in very limited
circumstances.” Nestle, 593 U.S. at 631 (plurality op.).
Indeed, the Supreme Court has “yet to find [the two-part test]
satisfied.” Id. at 637. The Court’s reluctance to expand the
ATS beyond Sosa underscores its commitment to ending the
“ancien regime” when the Court “ventur[ed] beyond
Congress’s intent” to create rights of action that were—at
best—only implied. Alexander v. Sandoval, 532 U.S. 275,
287 (2001). A plurality of the Court has already suggested
that it will not infer any rights of action beyond “the three
historical torts identified in Sosa”: “violation of safe
conducts, infringement of the rights of ambassadors, and
15
This test “bears a marked resemblance to the ‘clearly established law’
standard in qualified immunity analysis.” Gerald Weber, The Long Road
Ahead: Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain and “Clearly Established”
International Tort Law, 19 Emory Int’l L. Rev. 129, 132 (2005).
78 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
piracy.” Nestle, 593 U.S. at 635, 637 (plurality op.).
Reading between the lines, we should never infer additional
causes of action under the ATS. The three torts identified in
Sosa, and no more.
Finally, even if plaintiffs allege violations of one of the
three torts identified in Sosa, they must go a step further and
show that the violation took place in the United States. That
is because the ATS lacks extraterritorial effect. Any claim
alleging “violations of the law of nations occurring outside
the United States is barred.” Kiobel, 569 U.S. at 124.
Plaintiffs’ ATS claim founders on all these shoals.
Extraterritoriality is a good place to start. Plaintiffs seek a
remedy under the ATS for actions that occurred in Mexico.
Because “the presumption against extraterritoriality applies
to claims under the ATS,” id., their claim cannot succeed
even if non-refoulement is a “specific, universal, and
obligatory” norm.
Besides seeking to give extraterritorial effect to the ATS,
Plaintiffs also seek to elevate non-refoulement to a universal
status it does not have. Assume Plaintiffs are right to define
non-refoulement as they do: non-refoulement
“encompass[es] any measure . . . which could have the effect
of returning an asylum-seeker or refugee to the frontiers of
territories where his or her life or freedom would be
threatened[.]” UNHCR Exec. Comm., Note on International
Protection, ¶ 16, U.N. Doc. A/AC.96/951 (Sept. 13, 2001).
Even on that definition, the metering policy is not non-
refoulement. The United States did not accept any metered
aliens into the United States. So how could it have returned
asylum-seekers or refugees anywhere?
In any event, assuming that the metering policy was non-
refoulement, Plaintiffs’ arguments remain unpersuasive.
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 79
Plaintiffs argue that non-refoulement has reached jus cogens
status, meaning that it is binding on the United States
regardless of whether it has consented to it. Siderman de
Blake v. Republic of Arg., 965 F.2d 699, 714–17 (9th Cir.
1992). Because finding that a norm has jus cogens status is
harsh medicine, only the rarest of norms will achieve that
status. Jus cogens norms must be “so universally
disapproved by other nations” that they are “automatically
unlawful.” Sosa, 542 U.S. at 751 (Scalia, J., concurring in
part). The list of such norms is so small that the Restatement
(Third) of the Foreign Relations Laws of the United States
enumerates them: only norms prohibiting “official torture,”
“genocide, slavery, murder or causing disappearance of
individuals, prolonged arbitrary detention, and systematic
racial discrimination” have achieved that status. Siderman
de Blake, 965 F.2d at 717. The refoulement of aliens who
have never entered the United States is a far cry from that
status.
As the district court correctly recognized, many
European countries and Australia have policies that belie any
claim that the non-refoulement standard universally applies
extraterritorially. Indeed, some countries have policies that
mirror the metering policy here. That is unsurprising. Most
countries, including the United States, respect and protect
their borders. Only the Ninth Circuit—which is not a
sovereign nation—seems to reject this nearly universal goal
of national border security. Plaintiffs cannot identify the
“general assent of civilized nations” necessary to create a
cause of action under the ATS. See Presbyterian Church of
Sudan v. Talisman Energy, Inc., 582 F.3d 244, 254 (2d Cir.
2009).
But even if non-refoulement were as universally
disapproved as Plaintiffs suggest, a cause of action would
80 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
still not exist under the ATS. Under the second prong of the
Court’s ATS test, there are countless sound reasons to think
that Congress would doubt the efficacy or necessity of a
remedy under the ATS. Jesner, 584 U.S. at 264.
I offer just one—the ATS “has not been held to imply
any waiver of sovereign immunity.” Tobar v. United States,
639 F.3d 1191, 1196 (9th Cir. 2011). “A waiver of sovereign
immunity cannot be implied but must be unequivocally
expressed.” Id. at 1195 (quoting United States v. Mitchell,
445 U.S. 535, 538 (1980)). Thus, recognizing an ATS claim
against the United States for violating a norm of non-
refoulement would require us to find that Congress, which
generally legislates against the backdrop of existing law, see
Fogerty v. Fantasy, Inc., 510 U.S. 517, 533 (1994), silently
waived the Nation’s sovereign immunity in cases brought by
any alien not immediately processed at the border. Nothing
Plaintiffs identify would support such a drastic departure
from precedent, particularly in a case that would open the
federal coffers to aliens who have never stepped foot in the
United States.
In sum, for a host of reasons, Plaintiffs’ ATS claim,
which would mark a drastic expansion of Sosa, fails.
IV
The majority’s interpretation of “arrives in the United
States” is indefensible. It twists the statutory language,
ignores history, flips multiple presumptions, and ignores
common-sense English usage. The majority also
erroneously concludes that the government “withheld” a
statutory duty (rather than merely delaying it) by telling
aliens to come back later. We should have rejected
Plaintiffs’ claims, including those that the majority saves for
another day. I dissent.
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 81
APPENDIX 1
Table 1: 161 Uses of “Arrives in” to Describe a
Destination
Year Source Context
1990 Christian Transplanted from her West Indian home,
Science the 19-year-old arrives in a large East
Monitor Coast city…to work as an au pair.
1990 Nelson Mandela, who arrives in New
USA Today York today, is being greeted with a ticker-
tape parade and crowds of thousands.
1990 Christian Mr. Gorbachev arrives in Washington [for
Science a summit].
Monitor
1990 Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki, the
diffident, sad-faced leader of Poland's
Washington
Solidarity-controlled government,
Post
arrives in Washington [to meet with
President Bush].
1990 When the new
Washington Congress arrives in Washington in
Post January, it will face a major piece of
unfinished business.
1990 [She] used to think that money was got on
J. of Am. the streets here, but if ever she arrives
Ethnic in this country she will find it quite
History different, as there is nothing got here by
idleness.
1990 A vendor arrives in the market with a
Ethnology small supply of capital and knowledge of
market trade.
82 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
Year Source Context
1990 Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev
World
arrives in Beijing for the first Sino-Soviet
Affairs
summit in thirty years.
1990 When Roderick arrives in London, he
Style must concoct a voice with which to
advance his career.
1990 In “Squaring the Circle,” a mountain man
American from Kentucky arrives in Manhattan and
Heritage is made vertiginous by its pitiless rush
forward.
1990 [Photo description:] Lajos Kossuth
American arrives in America in 1851, with the
Heritage Guardian Genius of Hungary in
attendance.
1990 White You can leave if you want. I'm staying.
Hunter: The company arrives in Entebbe the day
Black Heart after tomorrow [to film a movie].
1990 Ragged arrives in an era of declining rock'
USA Today
n' roll, a drift that hasn’t alarmed Young.
1990 [Photo description:] Ambassador to
Newsweek Kuwait Nathaniel Howell arrives in
Germany.
1990 Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in Washington
ABC
next Wednesday evening [for a summit].
1990 [We have to design the equipment so that
CNN it] is lighter and able to get there and then
Specials do a different job when it arrives in the
arena.
1990 And your view is that…let[ting] food
CNN
supplies go into Kuwait would be an
Crossfire
excellent idea?...The moment that food
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 83
Year Source Context
arrives in Kuwait, it will be taken by the
Iraqis.
1990 PBS Mandela arrives in New York on
Newshour Wednesday for a 12-day visit to the U.S.
1990 Each day a new harvest of inmates arrives
PBS in The Crosses [where they are detained
Newshour for months, waiting for investigations to
finish.]
1990 I think he is positioning himself also to
PBS improve the chances for his foreign
NewsHour minister, Teraq Aziz, when he arrives in
Washington [for negotiations].
1990 Furthermore, he said when Perez de
ABC Cuellar arrives in Amman, they are not
Nightline arriving with any proposals for the
secretary general.
1990 As first light arrives in a beech and
Atlantic hemlock forest, setting the birds sounding
their chaotic vowels…
1990 Interior I am the one by whom my past arrives in
Landscapes this world.
1990 A bedraggled Henry arrives in his brother,
Good Fellas Michael’s, room. Michael is all dressed
and sitting in his wheelchair, ready to go.
1990 Hence, productivity begins even before
Newsweek
the worker arrives in the office.
1990 This child…is the grandson of…a Russian
Jew who arrives in Baltimore on the
Newsweek
Fourth of July, 1914, and declares it the
most beautiful place he’s ever seen.
84 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
Year Source Context
1990 U.S. News & Until the supertanker arrives in the U.S.,
World no one knows the price its oil cargo will
Report bring.
1990 [A cruise ship], for example, leaves
Changing Miami on Saturdays and after two days at
Times sea arrives in St. Martin/St. Maarten,
which is half French and half Dutch.
1990 [T]he Count, disguised as a large, black
dog, arrives in England. Fortunately for
Weatherwise His Excellency, immigration and
quarantine laws were much less strict then
than now.
1990 If you think of the telephone purely as a
TIME secular voice thrower, it arrives in the
mind at its most irritating.
1991 On November 15th, a second ambassador
arrives in the United States to help
ABC Special
Nomura, the current ambassador, who's
been negotiating for almost a year.
1991 [T]he note is seen as an ultimatum. The
ABC Special same day Hull’s note arrives in Japan, the
Japanese fleet departs from Japan.
1991 Terry Anderson arrives in Germany [to
PBS
begin his first full day of freedom at an
Newshour
American military base]
1991 ABC James Baker arrives in Saudi Arabia
Nightline tonight [to meet with Kuwait’s leader.]
1991 Once the food arrives in the port, yes,
ABC
there will have to be some work done on
Nightline
the roads.
1991 ABC He will likely tell the President which way
Nightline it's going to go before he arrives in
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 85
Year Source Context
Moscow for the summit with Mr.
Gorbachev, July 30th, 31st.
1991 Six months after he arrives in Russia,
JFK Francis Gary Powers’ U2 spy flight goes
down in Russia.
1991 [I]f the wine is likely to cost at least 20%-
Forbes 25% more when it arrives in the U.S. 18
to 24 months later.
1991 Her calculation is shown in one sequence
in Truth or Dare when her tour arrives in
Nat’l Rev. Toronto and she is told that the police are
prepared to arrest her if [she performs a
specific bit.]
1991 Saturday In New York City, only 32 cents of every
Evening Post education dollar arrives in the classroom.
1991 The robot will sell for less than $1,000
Compute! when it arrives in stores and catalogs next
February.
1991 When the shuttle arrives in space, the
Compute! crew reconfigures the computers for
orbital operations.
1991 [Photo description:] An ore carrier
bearded with the frozen spray of the Great
Weatherwise
Lakes arrives in Superior, Wisconsin, in a
-15 degrees F deep freeze.
1991 She gives one party each summer for
NY Times about 400 Saratogians, even before the
racing crowd arrives in town.
1991 Gorbachev decided to speed it up and
Christian
finish everything before the delegation
Science
arrives in Vilnius….Then the delegation
Monitor
will arrive to find ‘order’ restored.
86 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
Year Source Context
1991 First Egyptian contingent arrives in Saudi
Associated Arabia. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
Press urges Arabs to sweep “emirs of oil” from
power.
1991 The Giffords will be reunited temporarily
USA Today Friday. Kathie Lee arrives in Tampa to
tape Regis & Kathie Lee.
1991 John Major is expected to brief President
Bush on the positions of Britain, Italy,
USA Today France and Germany when he arrives in
the United States Wednesday for a three-
day visit.
1991 His new album, Dangerous, arrives in
USA Today
stores Tuesday.
1992 Uher said he would support a rules change
Houston requiring the Calendars Committee to
Chronicle schedule a bill for floor debate within 30
days after it arrives in Calendars.
1992 President Bush arrives in Japan on
ABC
Tuesday on a mission to open Japanese
Business
markets to American products.
1992 As Clinton arrives in Albuquerque, New
ABC Special Mexico, it is very late at night and [local
supporters are gathered to meet him.]
1992 NPR All The vice president arrives in Tokyo on
Things Tuesday to take part in a ceremony.
Considered
1992 One drawback to electing a governor
President is that he arrives in the White
CNN
House with little foreign policy
experience.
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 87
Year Source Context
1992 President Bush arrives in Japan with a
ABC
demand: Japanese markets must be
Nightline
opened to American-made goods.
1992 NPR Boris Yeltsin arrives in Washington, DC,
Weekend on Tuesday [for a summit.]
1992 Descending the stone stairs, Alfred arrives
Batman 2
in the Batcave.
1992 Frick arrives in the doorway [to speak to
Batman 2
someone.]
1992 Jennifer [A man] spits gum at the sink as he arrives
Eight in the kitchen.
1992 [She] hurr[ies] into her dressing gown
Jennifer with a similar urgency to get out.
Eight She arrives in the living room as the figure
is clambering through the window.
1992 [Photo description:] A shipload of Somali
Newsweek
refugees arrives in Yemen
1992 The hero of And You, Too arrives in
America
France [to study]
1992 Christian A young senator, Jefferson Smith, arrives
Science in the nation’s capital [to serve his term]
Monitor
1992 Churchill arrives in Cairo, disturbed by a
Associated telegram from Gen. Auchinlek saying
Press Britain's 8th Army will not have the
strength to make new attacks.
1992 Churchill arrives in Moscow to tell Stalin
Associated
no second front will be opened in Europe
Press
in 1942.
1992 The first installment of her $60 million,
Washington
multimedia deal with Time Warner arrives
Post
in stores today.
88 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
Year Source Context
1992 The Subway Finally Arrives in
Washington
Woodbridge and Waldorf[, expanding] the
Post
Metro into the outer counties.
1992 Hillary Clinton arrives in town today still
Washington
in the process of figuring out how to be an
Post
impeccable
1992 Joel Fleischman, a whiny New Yorker,
Atlanta J.- arrives in Alaska to fulfill his obligation
Const. under a state program that had paid his
tuition
1992 His co-star, Susan Strasberg, portrays a
San
naive deaf woman who arrives in the
Francisco
Haight looking for her missing brother.
Chronicle
She's quickly befriended.
1992 World The first Mainland Chinese to visit
Affairs Taiwan arrives in Taipei.
1993 Three days before Kennedy arrives in
Dallas, [Lee Harvey Oswald is] given a
ABC 20/20
gift on a silver platter. Jack Kennedy’s
going to pass in front of the Depository.
1993 But Clinton arrives in Tokyo [for
NPR All
negotiations] with his stature as an
Things
international leader tarnished by his
Considered
performance over the last four months.
1993 Bosnia’s President Alija Izetbegovic
NPR
arrives in New York today. He'll address
Morning
the U.N. tomorrow.
1993 The President arrives in Tampa, Florida, a
ABC medium-sized city where one out of five
Nightline people has no health insurance. [The
President is interviewed.]
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 89
Year Source Context
1993 A young English nurse, a new bride,
arrives in Africa with a man that she met
CNN while working as a nurse during the
war…[and] sought out friends among the
local Africans.
1993 A package arrives in the mail. You open
CNN
it…
1993 Mariana of Austria is not yet queen the
Southern
day that Mari Barbola arrives in Madrid:
Review
someone else fills that role, an Isabella.
1993 Charlie runs across the dance floor,
So I Married
fighting for an exit to the outside.
an Axe
He arrives in someone's arms on his way
Murderer
[and says,] ‘I need your help.’
1993 William Nathaniel Showalter III arrives
NY Times in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for spring
training today.
1993 When Mr. Clinton arrives in Des Moines,
NY Times he will join Mr. Harkin for a helicopter
tour.
1993 One-and-a-half hours northeast of the
Salvadoran capital…, one arrives in
Christian
Ilobasco, marked by its red-tiled roofs.
Science
Here, the combination of fine-grained clay
Monitor
and local talent has produced a cottage
industry of ceramic crafts.
1993 But when our renga arrives in the morning
Christian
mail, I find that the wind that climbs the
Science
pine hill behind David’s house is stirring
Monitor
the apple boughs behind me.
90 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
Year Source Context
1993 The flight from Miami arrives in Iquitos,
Associated
Peru, late at night and you get on the boat
Press
immediately….
1993 The first, a nonstop from Ocean City to
Washington Washington, departs Ocean City at 8 a.m.
Post daily and arrives in Washington at 1:50
p.m.
1993 The second departs Ocean City at 11:20
Washington
a.m., stops in Rehoboth Beach at 12:05
Post
p.m. and arrives in Washington at 3:55.
1993 The last bus, also a nonstop, leaves Ocean
Washington
City at 5 p.m. and arrives in Washington
Post
at 10:45.
1993 [T]he Ladies Professional Golf
Atlanta J.- Association arrives in Stockbridge this
Const. week for the $ 600,000 Atlanta Women's
Championship.
1993 He arrives in Atlanta via impressive stints
Atlanta J.-
as a staff conductor with the [several
Const.
symphonies.]
1993 Neeson…stars as Oskar Schindler, a Nazi
Houston Party member who arrives in Krakow,
Chronicle Poland, shortly after the Nazi army
crushes Polish resistance in 1939.
1993 The brisk rhythm…builds up to this shot
as an arresting point of confluence; the
Raritan ship's entering frame as it arrives in the
town harbor carries the accumulated
charge of all that has been transpiring.
1993 [Photo description:] The phantom ship
Raritan entering frame as it arrives in the town
harbor.
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 91
Year Source Context
1993 By the time the caravan arrives in
Geographical
Amazonia, the forest is largely felled, the
Review
resources pillaged…
1993 Music A new magazine of practical music
Educators teaching arrives in your mailbox this
Journal summer.
1994 Constance Hopkins arrives in the New
Social World aboard the Mayflower and relates
Studies the early years of Plymouth Plantation
from November 1620 to February 1626.
1994 Boris Yeltsin arrives in the U.S. tonight
CBS 60
for a summit meeting with President
Minutes
Clinton.
1994 This delegation arrives in a situation in
which, by and large, the Haitian people, as
best anyone can determine, are saying to
CBS Special
themselves and anyone else who will
listen, ‘We just hope this thing gets over
with.’
1994 Nearly every week, a Chinese freighter
ABC Day
arrives in the port of Long Beach,
One
California.
1994 Last week [a package] arrives in New
CBS Eye to
Jersey, where Jay Skidmore is a U.S.
Eye
postal inspector.
1994 When he arrives in the house, do you give
Gerald
him a kiss? MARGIE: No. (Audience-
Rivera Show
reaction).
1994 [A] convoy of U.N. peacekeepers arrives
ABC
in Gorazde after Bosnia's Serbs defy
Saturday
NATO's ultimatum and intensify their
News
shelling.
92 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
Year Source Context
1994 [I]t’s comforting to know that there is
NPR
poetry out there worse than my poetry.
Morning
And it arrives in the mail….
1994 There is always a certain element of pomp
ABC and ceremony when a U.S. president
Nightline arrives in a foreign capital, but it's
essentially fluff.
1994 [Mr. Swing] will be hosting the high-
ABC
powered delegation when it arrives in
Nightline
Haiti tomorrow.
1994 For instance, James Bond arrives in
Literary Rev. Munich and knows where he can eat the
best liverwurst in the city.
1994 [S]he sails around for several years…until
she finally arrives in Britain, which has
Critical recently been conquered by a non-
Matrix Christian people…[S]he succeeds in
spreading the word of God among the
Britons.
1994 She believes she is escaping those dead-
end streets, but instead arrives in
North of
California with the phone number of an
Montana
old high school boyfriend written out like
a prescription.
1994 Here comes Cobb with a recklessness
beyond reason. And as the pitch arrives in
Cobb
the Catcher's hands, the Catcher digs in to
take on Cobb.
1994 A Mossad team arrives in London to
The Fist of
mount an operation against a Palestinian
God
undercover squad.
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 93
Year Source Context
1994 I have been avoiding the club where we
Harpers
had lunch. If a package arrives in the
Magazine
mail, I shake it slightly.
1994 [H]e arrives in Naples [for a summit] with
NY Times the best economic performance of the
participants.
1994 Prime Minister John Major arrives in
NY Times Naples [for a summit] in a curious
position: Britain’s economy is growing….
1994 [L]arge artificial marshes…will be used to
Associated
cleanse farm run-off before it arrives in
Press
the Everglades.
1994 The prevailing south winds are lashing
Associated
gnarled mesquite trees as a visitor arrives
Press
in Rule, population 783.
1994 British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd
Associated
arrives in Hanoi Wednesday to expand his
Press
country’s trade and investment links.
1994 In one scene, a group of children arrives
Washington in England and is welcomed and hugged
Post by people they don't know but with whom
they will live temporarily.
1994 San Johnny…is 27 and arrives in London in a
Francisco stolen car, penniless but full of dire
Chronicle thoughts.
1994 California Governor Wilson will be the
San latest visitor when he arrives in El Paso
Francisco today to tour the border and see what
Chronicle lessons the blockade may hold for his
state.
94 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
Year Source Context
1994 She was in love with Lime, who is
Chicago Sun-
seemingly killed just as Cotton arrives in
Times
Vienna.
1994 A once-in-a-lifetime event arrives in
Chicago Chicago and you might wind up with your
nose pressed against the window.
1994 Armed This is how Amnon expresses what it
Forces & means to be scared when one arrives in
Soc. Gaza for the first time.
1994 When the exhibition arrives in London,
Sirens
the English will be convinced.
1994 Here’s a president who arrives in Moscow
[for discussions] with no new money. The
NPR
only amounts of money that are going to
Weekend
be given to help Russia have all been
stipulated before.
1995 As they head into the apartment, the
elevator arrives in the hall, bringing more
Metropolis
people. Christoph ushers in this new
group, then slips into the elevator.
1995 Shirley Harris arrives in the emergency
CBS
room at 2:00 PM with chest pain. She’s
Morning
immediately hooked up to a monitor.
1995 Private hospitals, by law, have to treat
NPR
anyone who arrives in the emergency
Morning
room.
1995 Meanwhile, I open a letter that arrives in
Mass. Rev.
the mail.
1995 Va. One week later, a letter to me arrives in
Quarterly the office mail. The return address is The
Rev. New York Herald Tribune Book.
1995 Outbreak [D]awn arrives in the Motaba Valley.
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 95
Year Source Context
1995 Within 48 hours a representative of the
testing agency used by Major League
Sports
Baseball arrives in Binghamton, N.Y.,
Illustrated
home of the Mets’ Double A affiliate, to
collect a urine sample from Gooden.
1995 At certain separations, a light wave from
Astronomy one star arrives in sync with a light wave
from the other star and adds to it.
1995 Christianity U.S. Marines salute Pope John Paul II as
Today he arrives in Queens.
1995 Pope John Paul II proclaims himself “a
Associated
pilgrim of peace” as he arrives in the
Press
United States for a five-day visit.
1995 Indeed, before he arrives in the United
Washington
States, Peres says he plans to develop a
Post
list of options….
1995 Clayton County has become a multi-
cultured and diverse community. When
Atlanta J.-
student-led prayer arrives in the
Const.
classroom, it will include Hindu, Muslim,
Jewish and pagan chants.
1995 A tired young man arrives in Atlanta one
Atlanta J.-
evening. He has no relatives to support
Const.
him….
1995 Atlanta J.- Stoichkov could play more than 60
Const. matches before he arrives in Atlanta.
1995 When the world arrives in our city next
summer, challenging these barriers must
Atlanta J.-
be accomplished if Atlanta is to emerge as
Const.
the next great international city for people
with disabilities.
96 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
Year Source Context
1995 Levada arrives in San Francisco following
San
several years of bitter protests over
Francisco
Quinn's decision to close more than a
Chronicle
dozen churches.
1995 As soon as she arrives in the village, a
Symposium network that resembles a transparent web
weaves itself around Samya.
1995 The first among this new old breed of
NPR
scary critters arrives in Species, a sci-fi
Morning
thriller that owes a lot to Alien.
1995 Mighty [The] world famous coach Gunthar
Morphin Scmidt arrives in Angel Grove today [to
Power scout for his gymnastics team.]
Rangers
1996 [A man on a tour received increased
media attention with] each successive
stop. In fact, a few days from now, when
Smithsonian
he arrives in Buffalo, New York, for a
Juneteenth Festival…he’ll be greeted by
60,000 festival goers.”
1996 Volkswagen's biggest car, the Passat, will
Associated see slicker styling and improved safety
Press features when it arrives in the United
States next spring.
1996 Two people…are the keepers of the
CBS 48
[Olympic] flame…until it arrives in
Hours
Atlanta [for the Olympics.]
1996 Runaway Jury, the story of a high-stakes
People
lawsuit against a tobacco company, which
Weekly
arrives in bookstores this week.
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 97
Year Source Context
1996 Marcie arrives in Baton Rouge at six
Ark. Rev.: J.
o’clock. When I open the door, she
Delta Studies
throws her arms around my neck.
1996 [She] goes right into a detailed description
Ark. Rev.: J.
of how she plans to breed iguanas once
Delta Studies
she arrives in Texas.
1996 It seems as if the 1992 elections just
Fantasy & ended, and yet this magazine
Sci. Fiction arrives in your mailbox at the beginning
of primary season.
1996 House Later in the story, the children's letter
Mouse, arrives in the House mail room.
Senate
Mouse
1996 She balls up the drawing and puts it in her
pocket. Gina arrives in the doorway,
Basquiat
wearing a robe. The landlady’s trapped
between them.
1996 What Mitsubishi’s 40-in. glass-plasma
Popular display will actually look like and how it
Mechanics will be configured when it arrives in
stores in early 1997 are still mysteries.
1996 Dan “the Beast” Severn arrives in the
Esquire Octagon [with people who announce him
for a wrestling match.]
1996 [A] fish [changes] between the evening
Field & when it is caught and the next morning
Stream when the fisherman arrives in the local
coffee shop to tell of his catch.
1996 If this were a video game, the screen
Smithsonian might first show a stranger. He arrives in
a rainy city [and founds a school].
98 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
Year Source Context
1996 Associated [The] Cuban President arrives in Chile
Press [for a summit.]
1996 The flight arrives in Newark but is late,
and the team must go to the other end of
USA Today
the airport to catch its connecting flight to
Hartford.
1996 Yet nothing is for sure now.
San
Moceanu arrives in Atlanta with a four-
Francisco
centimeter stress fracture in her tibia that
Chronicle
kept her out of the Olympic Trials
1996 Every month, Good Housekeeping
The
arrives in my mailbox bursting with
Simpsons
recipes.
1996 Chicago Sun- None of this rich thematic material arrives
Times in the form of dry discourse in Arcadia.
1996 The imported Catera arrives in small
Associated quantities this year in California, Oregon
Press and Washington, then debuts in the
Washington, D.C.-to-Boston area.
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 99
Table 2: 58 Uses of “Arrives in” to Describe When or
How One Arrives
Year Source Context
1990 The obliging taxi driver who has taken us
Nat’l Rev. to a sung Latin Mass at St. Vitus's Gothic
cathedral this morning arrives in time.
1990 Ninety percent of Hawaii's energy arrives
Omni
in the form of imported oil.
1991 Bert Blyleven, also disabled, arrives in
Atlanta J.-
time before each home game to take a 90-
Const.
minute bike ride around the stadium.
1990 Moments after Hackman and his crony find
San
Archer in a wilderness cabin, the mob
Francisco
arrives in a commando-style helicopter
Chronicle
raid.
1990 Animals are slaughtered and a meal arrives
Ethnology
in large brass trays.
1990 Rolling She arrives in a new red BMW, as well as
Stone in a wide-brimmed hat.
1992 Passenger Stuart Ramsay arrives in mid-conversation
57 with a top executive.
1992 USA Today A [BMW] 325is coupe arrives in March.
1992 [The] [c]onvertible version of the 300ZX
USA Today
sports car arrives in April at about $39,000.
1992 USA Today A station wagon arrives in September.
1992 Mussels and clams are average; chicken is
Atlanta J.- chunks of white meat resembling the stuff
Const. that arrives in boxes, not on the bone;
sliced chorizo sausage is so-so.
1992 Atlanta J.- [T]he daily stream of traffic arrives in
Const. 1994.
100 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
Year Source Context
1992 Boston Coll. Perhaps the threat arrives in the form of a
Env’t nearby sanitary landfill or a nuclear power
Affairs L. plant.
Rev.
1992 Since information arrives in time-
J. Info. Sys. sequenced, discrete event' packets, this is
essentially an optimal stopping problem.
1992 Since information arrives in discrete time-
J. Info. Sys.
sequenced packets….
1992 [A]ssume that S is updated in clusters of
J. Info. Sys.
m=3 (e.g., it arrives in “bursts”).
1993 A young girl is chosen to be the Rangeley
ABC Sun
angel and arrives in snowland style to light
News
the tree.
1993 Babylon 5: [The four] governments have ambassadors
The here. Almost. The fourth arrives in two
Gathering days.
1993 The lamb, a tiny, pure white female,
Kenyon
arrives in a laundry basket. For Ariella it’s
Rev.
love at first sight.
1993 Being Hector’s girlfriend Anna arrives in her car.
Human It is a bright pink station wagon.
1993 The Nobilem…is mechanically good and
optically superb, comes with a leather neck
Field &
strap that is too long, and arrives in a
Stream
leather hard case that is an object of great
beauty.
1993 Help arrives in the form of another
Compute!
undocumented feature.
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 101
Year Source Context
1993 [T]he date Nostradamus named for the end
of the world can be figured in several
Omni ways, depending on the chosen starting
point, so that Armageddon arrives in the
year 2000 or later, in 3797.
1993 [A m]id-size, extra-roomy Sonata sedan
Chicago arrives in March as [a] thoroughly
Sun-Times revamped but inexpensive early 1995
model.
1993 [This] Eclipse has [a] short production run
Chicago
because [the] redesigned 1995 model
Sun-Times
arrives in spring.
1994 Wagner takes the throw as Cobb arrives in
Cobb
a spikes-up slide.
1994 [I]t never occurs to him that he arrives in a
Literary
plaid suit and all others are wearing T-
Rev.
shirts.
1994 Then the Don, Death arrives in a big old
Mass. Rev.
Benz.
1994 Fantasy & The ship arrives in midafternoon. Why
Sci. Fiction don't we just wait for it?
1994 San As is now usual with Stone films, this one
Francisco arrives in a highly marketable cloud of
Chronicle controversy.
1994 Chicago Callaway arrives in midmorning, having
Sun-Times read late into the night before.
1994 Giorgino Professor Beaumont arrives in a moment.
1995 San The adulation arrives in torrents, gathering
Francisco at Mike Tyson’s feet in three-foot drifts.
Chronicle
102 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
Year Source Context
1995 It will take an outsider to revive this
troubled lot, and she arrives in the form of
TIME
Bette Mack, a taciturn beauty in pink
sneakers.
1995 Copycat Ruben arrives in a taxi.
1995 Braveheart The undertaker arrives in his hearse.
1995 The boss always arrives in a bad mood, but
Feminist
he never has a reason for being angry with
Studies
Mery Yagual.
1995 Chicago Not to be outdone, the tiramisu arrives in a
Sun-Times wine glass.
1995 The great white buffalo heralded by Native
Am. Studies
prophesy arrives in the form of a white
Int’l
motor home. The medicine pipe is sold.
1995 Space: The miners are preparing to transfer ice ore
Above and to a heavily armed convoy which arrives in
Beyond two days.
1996 Amish-raised chicken arrives in a deep
Chicago
bowl, the pieces of chicken sharing space
Sun-Times
with chunks of roasted potatoes.
1996 Sally Field arrives in a square Volvo
NY Times wagon for the wild children’s birthday
party.
1996 When Harrison Ford is called to the White
NY Times House in Clear and Present Danger, he
arrives in his Taurus station wagon.
AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS 103
Year Source Context
1996 If these procedures or any of the team’s
diagnostic tests indicate that an engine is
malfunctioning, it’s removed entirely,
Popular Sci. placed in a handsome aluminum shipping
container, and replaced—straightaway—
with another that arrives in a similar
container.
1996 The Rock The President arrives in three hours.
1996 Kestrel, the first production, one-piece,
Bicycling airfoil-designed carbon frame, arrives in
‘86.
1996 Beavis and We pan back to the hotel as Muddy arrives
Butt-head in a cab.
Do America
1996 Saturday Sometimes a rescue squad arrives in time
Evening to revive the victim.
Post
1996 The front-wheel-drive S70 sedan arrives
USA Today in fall as the successor to the midrange
800-series.
1996 USA Today An all-new Accent arrives in fall.
1996 The sexy SLK roadster that’s been making
USA Today the rounds of the international auto shows
arrives in early ‘97, with two key features.
1996 Okay. Okay. The President arrives in three
The Rock
hours.
1996 A redesigned version of the midsize Regal
USA Today
arrives in spring.
1996 A successor to the compact Corsica sedan
USA Today
arrives in early 1997.
1996 In addition, a successor to the Ciera,
USA Today
rebadged a Cutlass, arrives in early 1997.
104 AL OTRO LADO V. MAYORKAS
Year Source Context
1996 USA Today A redesigned Maxima sedan arrives in fall.
1996 And Auden’s version of the faithful Sarah
Raritan Young arrives in time to see what he is up
to.
1996 This [comment] arrives in the ponderous,
thoughtful tones you would expect from
ABA J. someone who has Higginbotham’s new life
as an ombudsman for the American
establishment.
Plain English Summary
FOR PUBLICATION UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT AL OTRO LADO, a California Nos.
Key Points
01FOR PUBLICATION UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT AL OTRO LADO, a California Nos.
03URSULA DOE; VICTORIA DOE; 3:17-cv-02366- BIANCA DOE; JUAN DOE; BAS-KSC ROBERTO DOE; CESAR DOE; MARIA DOE; EMILIANA DOE, individually and on behalf of all others OPINION similarly situated, Plaintiffs-Appellees / Cross-Appellants, v.
04EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR IMMIGRATION REVIEW, Appellant / Cross- Appellee, and ALEJANDRO N.
Frequently Asked Questions
FOR PUBLICATION UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT AL OTRO LADO, a California Nos.
FlawCheck shows no negative treatment for Al Otro Lado v. Alejandro Mayorkas in the current circuit citation data.
This case was decided on October 23, 2024.
Use the citation No. 10160326 and verify it against the official reporter before filing.