Judge BLOCKS Biden administration from enforcing Title 42 at the border

A federal judge has ordered that the pandemic-era rule that swiftly drove migrants across the US-Mexico border must be ended.

The regulation, Title 42, was implemented by the Trump administration in March 2020 and was designed during the pandemic to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Migrants were no longer allowed to be processed in the United States; instead, they were sent back across the border to Mexico.

President Joe Biden has tried to lift it and set a date for May 23, arguing that the justification for the pandemic era had passed, but was blocked by a Louisiana federal court, which ruled on May 20 that the policy of power had to remain.

On Tuesday, Washington DC District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled that Title 42 should be waived, describing it as an “arbitrary and capricious violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.”

In a case brought by the ACLU against the Biden administration, Sullivan ruled that Title 42 went too far and that it would be immediately rescinded.

Proponents of Title 42 have said its repeal paves the way for an increase in migrant crossings, which the United States cannot handle.

Those advocating for its repeal say ending Title 42 removed one of the Trump administration’s last remaining barriers to legal asylum claims.

Lee Gelernt, the ACLU’s attorney who specializes in migration cases, said after the decision: “Title 42 was never about public health, and this ruling finally ends the charade of using Title 42 to give desperate asylum seekers even a hearing.”

The photo shows a group of migrants who crossed from Tijuana on Nov. 11

Sullivan’s ruling, issued on Tuesday, said Title 42 was an “arbitrary and capricious violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.”

said Gelern CBS news“This ruling is of enormous significance to asylum seekers and will hopefully end the misuse of public health laws to deter desperate people from seeking protection.”

Sullivan took issue with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in his ruling, condemning “their decision to ignore the harm that could be caused” by issuing the policy.

He said the CDC also has not considered alternative approaches, such as allowing migrants to self-quarantine in the homes of US-based friends, family or shelters.

Sullivan also said the CDC should have revised Title 42 earlier, when vaccines and tests became widely available.

“With regard to whether defendants could have ‘stepped up vaccinations, out-of-home processing, and all other available public health measures,’ the court finds that the CDC failed to provide a satisfactory explanation as to why such measures were not feasible,” it wrote. Sullivan.

Sullivan also said the policy did not limit the pandemic because COVID-19 was already rampant in the United States by the time it went into effect.

The Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security had no immediate response to the ruling and could appeal — though Sullivan declined to reserve his decision pending an appeal.

An appeal was deemed unlikely as the Biden administration announced its intention to end Title 42 earlier this year.

Federal officers made more than 230,600 arrests at the US-Mexico border in October and expelled more than 78,400 without giving them a chance to plead their case.

US officials have carried out more than 2.4 million evictions, mostly from the southern border, since the previous administration issued the order in March 2020.

Most of the evictions have taken place under Biden as the number of arriving migrants has skyrocketed.

Federal immigration law allows anyone who sets foot on US soil to apply for asylum, although they must meet specific eligibility criteria.

Asylum seekers should fear persecution or torture in their country because of their race, religion, nationality, political beliefs or other reasons that make them a target.

Border officials arrested more than 2.3 million migrants along the border with Mexico last fiscal year.

More than 1.6 million were adults, 560,600 were families and 152,000 were unaccompanied minors – a record high for that group.