Title 42, a Trump-era policy that prevented hundreds of thousands of migrants from seeking asylum in the U.S. in recent years, remained on track to expire on Wednesday after an appeals court ruling Friday, according to the AP.
This ruling comes as thousands more migrants packed shelters on Mexico’s border with the U.S.
A coalition of 19 Republican-leaning states were pushing to keep the asylum restrictions put in place by former President Donald Trump at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Migrants have been denied seeking asylum under U.S. and international law 2.5 million times since March 2020 on the grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19. The public-health has left some migrants biding time in Mexico.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) previously tried to scrap the policy on May 23, but the Biden administration was forced to keep it in place after several Republican states sued.
The Biden administration is reportedly considering a five-month asylum ban to curb illegal immigration ahead of an expected surge in migrants crossing the border, per a report from Axios.
Android Users, Click Here To Download The Free Press App And Never Miss A Story. Follow Us On Facebook Here Or Twitter Here. Signup for our free newsletter by clicking here.
As The Free Press reported on Monday, more than 1,000 migrants converged on the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas, and is said to be one of the largest-ever single migrant crossing events in U.S. history.
These numbers are expected to grow.
The Biden admin and border are bracing for a possible surge of 14,000 migrant crossings a day, according to Axios.
“Officials are concerned that Border Patrol stations will face acute overcrowding and Department of Homeland Security resources will be overwhelmed when the pandemic-era Title 42 policy ends on Dec. 21, according to sources familiar with the plans,” the outlet reported.
A draft rule that would impose an asylum ban for roughly five months has been circulated internally.
The rule would apply to both migrant single adults and families who cross the border illegally, as well as those who arrive at legal ports of entry without already having proper authorization to enter, according to Axios.
The asylum process currently allows migrants who illegally cross the border into the U.S. to make a claim of fear and remain in the country to await adjudication, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.
The Biden administration is appealing a federal judge’s decision to end Title 42, a policy invoked under the Trump administration, to curb the spread of COVID-19, according to a court document published last Wednesday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) previously tried to scrap the policy on May 23, but the Biden administration was forced to keep it in place after several Republican states sued.
The Biden administration is now fighting in a separate case in which it has argued for the policy to remain.
“The government respectfully disagrees with this Court’s decision and would argue on appeal, as it has argued in this Court, that CDC’s Title 42 Orders were lawful,” the Department of Justice (DOJ) said in the filing to U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan.
The request to appeal asked Sullivan to allow the other cases to be adjudicated, suspending his order to end Title 42 in the interim.
Sullivan ruled on Nov. 15 that the Biden administration cannot use Title 42 to expel illegal migrants and subsequently granted the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) a five-week pause “with great reluctance” to prepare for an influx at the border.
The Biden administration was then given until Dec. 21 to prepare for the policy to end, which many have predicted could lead to chaos at the southern border on top of already record numbers of illegal migrants. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) encountered more than 2.3 million migrants at the southern border in fiscal year 2022 and another more than 230,000 in October.