Trump administration issues metering policy limiting asylum seekers at ports of entry; federal court later strikes it down as arbitrary under APA

The Trump administration's first term implemented a "metering" policy directing Customs and Border Protection to limit the number of asylum seekers processed at official ports of entry each day, forcing thousands of migrants to wait in Mexico. In Al Otro Lado v. Wolf (S.D. Cal. 2020), Judge Dana Sabraw found the policy arbitrary and capricious under the APA because CBP had not articulated a reasoned basis for the numerical limits. The ruling established that immigration enforcement policies — even those framed as resource allocation — were subject to APA review.