Funviralpark Title 42, launched under the Trump administration, uses public health as a justification for deporting asylum seekers.
In Tuesday’s 5-4 vote, the judge granted a request filed by the Republican state attorney general to have the court consider whether the state could challenge the termination of Title 42. Concern about increasing immigration to the United States.
The court’s decision to take up the case means that Title 42 will live indefinitely, crushing the hopes of rights groups that have viewed Title 42 as arbitrary and illegal.
“We are deeply disappointed with all the desperate asylum seekers who continue to suffer because of Title 42, but we will continue to fight to finally end this policy,” it said in a lawsuit seeking to end the policy.
Title 42 refers to a seldom-used section of the 1944 U.S. Code that allows the government to bar entry to foreigners if they present a “serious danger” of spreading contagious disease.
Then-President Donald Trump invoked the policy in March 2020, while the United States was grappling with the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, US authorities have used Title 42 to deport about 2.5 million people who entered the country seeking asylum, denying them arrival at the US-Mexico border in the name of fighting COVID-19.
Immigrant rights groups have accused the Trump administration of using public health as an excuse to crack down on immigration, a longtime goal of the former president.
The policy has also been criticized as a dubious means of combating the spread of the virus.U.S. health officials said last April that the policy was no longer necessary.
But U.S. President Joe Biden has faced fierce backlash against his efforts to roll back policy, with conservative judges and officials arguing that the end of Title 42 will lead to a surge in border crossings. It warns that it will lead to
As a result, Title 42 remained intact under the Biden administration until a federal court ruled in November that the policy must be terminated. Set the Title 42 expiration date to December 21st.
Just days before it expires, the Supreme Court issued a temporary order barring policy changes to consider whether to take up the matter.
Following Tuesday’s vote, the Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in the case in February, sparking a new legal battle between groups such as the ACLU and conservative politicians.
The ACLU argues that with improved treatments for COVID-19, the policy is no longer necessary and violates international asylum law. Conservative groups, meanwhile, believe the repeal of Title 42 will lead to an increase in immigration, overwhelming government institutions and leading to an “unprecedented catastrophe.”
