Trump-era policy restricting immigration due to the pandemic that was used to expel more than 1 million migrants at the US’s southern border, the so-called Title 42, was blocked by a federal judge on Tuesday as outdated.
President Bill Clinton’s appointee, US District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan, said in his 49-page opinion that Title 42 is in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, pointing out that it hasn’t been updated to align with the present state of the pandemic in the United States, which includes an increase in travel, and widely available vaccines and treatments
Arguing that the policy was arbitrary and capricious, Sullivan’s two-page decision not only precludes families from being deported based on the policy but voids all orders and decision memos suspending the right to introduce certain persons into the US that were issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or the Department of Health and Human Services (DHS).
Per a statement from the Department of Homeland Security which the White House has brought to attention, the Department of Justice has reportedly requested a five-week delay before having to lift Title 42 in an unopposed stay motion filed Tuesday night, requesting
It will ultimately be up to Judge Sullivan to decide whether or not to grant the stay that will allow the government to prepare for an orderly transition to new policies at the border although the plaintiffs – the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other immigrant advocacy groups – agreed to the request.
The Biden administration, which has relied heavily on Title 42 to manage the increase of migrants at the border, is now left without one of the critical tools it had deployed on a daily basis for reasons having little to do with the spread of disease, most recently to expel illegal Venezuelan migrants as part of its new humanitarian parole program for them.
Be the first to comment