Topline
A federal judge said Monday he will temporarily block the Biden Administration’s decision to end Title 42 border restrictions, which allow U.S. border agents to rapidly expel or turn away migrants due to Covid-19 health risks, four days after 21 states voiced their opposition to repealing the Trump-era rule next month.
Migrants pass U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers while crossing an international bridge … [+]
Key Facts
Western District of Louisiana Judge Robert R. Summerhays said in a filing Monday the parties to a lawsuit seeking to keep Title 42 in place—including the plaintiff states and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—will confer before settling on exact terms for a temporary restraining order halting the administration’s decision.
Until then, it remains unknown what the terms of the temporary restraining order will be, or whether it will be in effect long enough to interfere with the administration’s self-imposed May 23 deadline for repealing Title 42.
The plaintiff states previously claimed Title 42 has already in effect been abandoned by the Department of Homeland Security, resulting in a misappropriation of personnel and an increase in the number of migrants arriving undetected in the U.S. (DHS has used Title 42 to expel nearly 100,000 migrants per month since the start of the Biden Administration, including most single adults caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border).
The 21 mostly Republican-led states asking Summerhays to stop the administration from ending Title 42 include Alabama, Arizona, Florida and Texas.
Key Background
Title 42 of the U.S. Code empowers the surgeon general to halt immigration from certain places to prevent the spread of disease. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Trump Administration used this rule to close the door to migrants and asylum seekers, often expelling migrants who were apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border within hours of their arrest, a policy the Biden Administration has yet to overturn. Critics argue Title 42 prevents migrants who fled persecution in their home countries from exercising their legal right to seek asylum in the U.S., though supporters like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) have claimed the Biden Administration does not have a solid plan for ending Title 42 without causing migration to spike and unleashing a flood of drug smuggling and human trafficking in the U.S. from Mexico. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told CNN the administration has a well developed plan for ending the rule, but details of that plan were being withheld in order to keep “enemies” like drug cartels in the dark. Friday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of Texas seeking to block repeal of Title 42, criticizing what he described as the administration’s “disastrous open border policies.”
Big Number
1.7 million. That’s how many expulsions have been carried out under Title 42 since the policy was first imposed in March 2020, according to Customs and Border Protection. The actual number of people impacted by Title 42 is likely smaller because many migrants attempt to cross the border multiple times, CBP says.
Further Reading
“Texas Sues To Block Biden From Ending Title 42 Border Restriction” (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacharysmith/2022/04/25/judge-will-temporarily-block-biden-from-ending-title-42-border-restrictions/