# Supreme Court Will Decide Whether Cooking Meals for Terrorists Bars Asylum

The justices agreed to hear the administration's challenge to a ruling that overturned the deportation order of a Nigerian man who cooked for a militant group.

- Section: [Border & Security](https://rightnewsrightnow.com/border-security/)
- Published: 2026-10-17
- By: RightNewsRightNow Staff
- Canonical page: https://rightnewsrightnow.com/articles/supreme-court-asylum-material-support/

It is an unusual case with a very serious question inside it: how far does the law's ban on "material support" for terrorism go?

According to Fox News, the Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to hear the Trump administration's challenge to a ruling that overturned the deportation order of Nigerian citizen Izuchukwu Ozurumba. He was deported to Nigeria in April 2025 while his appeal was pending. At issue is whether ordinary services provided to a terrorist group, such as cooking meals, can disqualify an immigrant from asylum even when those services are not directly tied to attacks.

The facts, as Fox lays them out from court records: Ozurumba says he agreed to work as a chef at a "rural camp," preparing three meals a day for 15 to 17 leaders, and only later learned it belonged to a militant group called the Unknown Gunmen. He says armed guards prevented him from leaving. He cooked for the leaders for roughly six months, including three months without pay, before escaping on a trip into town to buy groceries. An immigration judge found the group qualified as a "Tier III" terrorist organization under federal immigration law, even though the State Department had not formally designated it.

The 4th Circuit, ruling 2-1, overturned the deportation order and sent the case back to the Board of Immigration Appeals. Judge James Wynn Jr., an Obama appointee, wrote the majority opinion, joined by Judge Nicole Berner, a Biden appointee. They concluded his cooking did not provide resources that could be directly used or readily redirected toward terrorist operations. The court did not decide whether the law contains an exception for assistance given under duress.

The administration argues that ordinary services can sustain a terrorist group and free its members to carry out attacks. Bryce Poole of Advancing American Freedom told Fox: "Because he's cooking the meals, one of the armed guards doesn't have to cook the meals and can be an armed guard." He called it "a case about who gets to draw the line on a law that affects national security."

The law lists examples of banned support, including transportation, housing, money, weapons and training, but does not define "material support." Fox notes the case also arrives two years after the Court overturned Chevron deference.

Whichever way it goes, the ruling will set a line immigration judges have to follow.

## Source

Original reporting: [Fox News](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/cooking-terrorists-bar-asylum-supreme-court-unusual-case-broader-immigration-stakes)