Federal Judge Blocks Title 42 Border Policy

Facts

• Title 42, the public health emergency measure used to expel migrants who cross into the US illegally, was struck down by a federal judge on Tuesday.¹
• Judge Emmett Sullivan of the US District Court for DC ruled that the measure — which was adopted during the Trump admin. — violates the Administrative Procedures Act. Biden’s admin. says it will comply with the order.²
• The Trump admin. adopted the rule in March 2020, using the COVID pandemic as a rationale to prevent asylum seekers from entering the US. More than 2M people have been turned away since Title 42’s implementation.²
• The Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) has requested a five-week delay to the rollback of the rule to “prepare to transition” to processing the migrants at the already backed-up border.²
• Title 42 has been the subject of much debate and legal action in the past year. The most recent judge’s ruling is related to a suit brought against DHS by a group of migrants who said getting expelled from the US would lead them to “grave harm” in January 2021.³

Sources: ¹New York Times, ²NBC and ³Daily Caller.

Narratives

• Left narrative, as provided by CNN. Title 42 was disguised as a public health order, but was always just an inhumane way to deny legitimate asylum seekers access to the US, and it’s about time it ended. The US government could’ve taken other measures — such as letting migrants self-quarantine or ramping up vaccinations — rather than barring them all from entering. Biden is absolutely right to agree with this latest ruling.
• Republican narrative, as provided by Daily Mail. If you thought the Biden administration’s handling of the border was bad before, things are about to get much worse. The US isn’t ready for the massive surge of illegal border crossings on the way. This will put border patrol agents at risk, and make the country less safe as a whole.