Invoked under the Trump administration, Title 42 uses public health to justify deporting asylum seekers.
The U.S. Supreme Court has temporarily upheld Title 42, a controversial immigration policy that has been criticized for rejecting refugees the possibility of applying for asylum in the US.
In a five-vote vote on Tuesday, the judges accepted several people’s claims Attorney General of the Republic for the court to consider whether states can object to the termination of Title 42. The policy expires in mid-December, leading to concerns about rising immigration to the United States.
The court’s decision to take the case means that Title 42 will be upheld in the future indefinitely, dashed hope rights groups have described it as arbitrary and illegal.
“We are deeply disappointed to all of the desperate asylum seekers who will continue to suffer because of Title 42, but we will continue to fight to finally end this policy,” said Lee. Gelernt, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), said. sued to terminate the policy.
Title 42 refers to a rarely used section of the U.S. Code, enacted in 1944, that allows the government to ban foreigners from entering if they are at “severe risk” of spreading diseases. Infectious.
Then-President Donald Trump invoked the policy in March 2020, as the United States struggled with the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. But US officials have used Title 42 to deport about 2.5 million people who entered the country seeking asylum, denying those arriving at the US-Mexico border in the name of fighting COVID-19.
Immigrant rights groups accuse the Trump administration of using public health as an excuse to crack down on migration, a longtime goal of the former president.
The policy has also been criticized as a questionable measure to combat the spread of the virus. US health authorities last April said the policy was no longer needed.
But US President Joe Biden has faced fierce opposition to his efforts to roll back the policy, with caution conservative officials and judges that the end of Title 42 would lead to a spike in border crossings.
The result is Title 42 remained in place under the Biden administrationuntil a The federal court ruled in November that the policy must end. The judge gave the Biden administration five weeks to prepare for the policy transition, scheduling Title 42’s expiration date for December 21.
Days before the expiration, the Supreme Court issued a temporary order blocking any changes to the policy as the court considers whether the matter should be resolved.
Following Tuesday’s vote, the Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments about the case in February, setting off another legal battle between groups like the ACLU and conservative politicians.
The ACLU has argued that the policy is no longer necessary due to improvements in COVID-19 treatments and that it violates international refugee law. Meanwhile, conservative groups believe that ending Title 42 would lead to a surge in immigration that overwhelmed government agencies, leading to “unprecedented disaster.”
