The U.S. Supreme Court has taken up a case that could widen the terrorism-related bar in American immigration law. On Tuesday the justices agreed to hear the Trump administration's appeal in the case of Izuchukwu Ozurumba, a Nigerian citizen denied asylum because he worked as a cook for a group known as the Unknown Gunmen.
A lower appeals court ruled in Ozurumba's favour, finding that cooking did not amount to material support for terrorism under the immigration statute. His lawyers say he was forced to work without pay and was threatened after escaping the camp, and they argue asylum should not turn on support that was never meaningful.
The administration argues the appeals ruling conflicts with decisions in other circuits and would make it harder for the government to exclude people with links to terrorist organisations. Its filings compare providing meals to providing fuel for a group's vehicles.
The justices are expected to hear arguments and rule by the end of June. The decision will matter well beyond one case: it will define how ordinary, coerced labour inside an armed group's camp is treated when a person later asks the United States for protection.
