Update:
- The Biden administration has announced it plans to appeal a Nov. 15 decision made by a D.C. circuit court judge who ruled that enforcement of Title 42 must end immediately for families and single adults.
- In an announcement made Dec. 7, the administration said it disagrees with the court’s decision that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Title 42 orders were illegal.
- The Title 42 rule was first invoked by President Donald Trump in 2020. It used an emergency section of the public health code to allow the United States to keep migrants from seeking asylum at the border, based on the need to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
- While Title 42 was set to end Dec. 21, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled it must end earlier, as the CDC should have applied the least restrictive means standard when trying to prevent the spread of the virus and didn’t explain why it departed from that practice when it relied on Title 42 to expel asylum seekers.
Title 42 overview:
- Who: A group of 15 states is fighting to keep a Trump administration public-health rule in place that allows the United States to turn away many asylum seekers at the border.
- Why: The 15 states are fighting for the Title 42 rule to be extended, as it is set to end Dec. 21.
- Where: The states have filed a motion to intervene in a D.C. federal court.
(Nov. 29, 2022)
A group of 15 states is fighting to keep a Trump administration public-health rule in place that allows the United States to turn away many asylum seekers at the border.
The states — Arizona, Louisiana, Alabama, Alaska, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming — filed a motion to intervene in a case on the Title 42 public health rule Nov. 21 in a D.C. federal court.
If granted, the states would become part of the legal proceedings regarding the application of the Title 42 rule in the United States.
States argue they will be harmed by Title 42 ending
The Title 42 rule was first invoked by President Donald Trump in 2020.
It used an emergency section of the public health code to allow the United States to keep migrants from seeking asylum at the border, based on the need to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. It is set to end Dec. 21.
According to their motion to intervene, the states will suffer “irreparable harm from the impending Termination of Title 42” and say that they should be allowed to argue their position well before the Dec. 21 termination date.
On Nov. 15, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled in Washington that enforcement of Title 42 must end immediately for families and single adults.
Immigrant rights’ groups have argued the use of the rule unjustly harms people fleeing persecution, and that the pandemic was used by the Trump administration as an excuse to curb immigration using public-health laws.
Now, the 15 states argue that states such as Arizona and Texas that border Mexico, as well as other states away from the border, will face more immigration if Title 42 ends.
The states say they do not have enough time to prepare for the termination of the policy, such as increased public spending.
“Because invalidation of the Title 42 orders will directly harm the states, they now seek to intervene to offer a defense of the Title 42 policy so that its validity can be resolved on the merits, rather than through strategic surrender,” the states said.
In 2020, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a class action lawsuit against the Trump administration, saying it denied migrant children their rightful legal proceedings by detaining them for multiple days in hotel rooms and then deporting them.
What do you think of the application of Title 42 in this case? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
The group is represented by the Republican attorneys general of each state.
The Title 42 case is Huisha-Huisha, et al. v. Mayorkas, et al., Case No. 1:21-cv-00100, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
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3 thoughts onBiden admin to appeal order ending Title 42 migrant expulsion policy
Keep 42!!
I agree we need to keep title 42 in place. Yes it was for COVID and while that is still an issue for many, it’s also the right thing to do.
I understand many want to come to US to work and I applaud and encourage them to do so. However, they should/NEED to do so the legal way. As many thousands/millions have done before, and how so many are still waiting in line to do so. Those in line have as just as much want, and right to be here and they are going about it the legal way.
Title42 circumvents that. Allowing people to cut in front of others, sends the absolute wrong message. The simple thing is, it rewards those who take the wrong way. It allows those who blatantly break our laws to benefit. All while punishing those who have gone the right/legal road to suffer, and have to wait even longer. That is not only not fair. It’s selfish.
These days with tight labor markets, inflation eating into household budgets, cutbacks, layoffs and hiring freezes at many companies, every job counts. And those jobs should be available to those who use the correct process.
Not to those who jump the line and take the illegal road.
As they say “nothing worth having is easily gained.”
We have many people wanting, or needing jobs and to have them compete, or expect to compete with those who came here illegally (who may easily work for less) does not uphold our honor and value system as a nation.
It also does not help to foster an initiative that America was built on.
We need to keep Title 42 in place, it will cost us tax payers Billions if not Trillions over a TEN YEAR period of time! Please back up those fifteen states wanting to extend TITLE 42 and I ask the rest of America to join the fifteen. I feel sorry for the people who want to join our country, but, they must enter with legality and our American freedoms as constituted.