Title 42 Expires As New Border Restrictions Announced, Biden Warns AMLO 'Border Will Be Chaotic for a While'

When the Title 42 order lifts, the United States will be strengthening its enforcement of long-standing Title 8 immigration authorities to expeditiously process and remove individuals who arrive at the US border unlawfully and do not have a legal basis to remain.

If removed, they will be barred from re-entry for at least 5 years and subject to potential criminal prosecution for repeated attempts to enter unlawfully. The transition back to Title 8 processing for all individuals encountered at the border will be effective immediately when the Title 42 order lifts.

Title 42 is a public health order imposed in March 2020, when former President Trump declared a national health emergency regarding the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The order was designed to provide border authorities the ability to immediately return migrants to their departing countries and/or countries of origin in order to reduce the possible spread of the virus. “Suspension of entries and imports from designated places to prevent the spread of communicable diseases.” lists the official Title 42 code. Title 42 expulsions are removals by the U.S. government of persons who have recently been in a country where a communicable disease was present. Expulsions under Title 42 are not based on immigration status and are tracked separately from immigration.

Under the policy, authorities have expelled migrants at the US-Mexico border more than 2.8 million times since the policy began, according to US Customs and Border Protection data.

It was often cited, as other pandemic-era restrictions were lifted or lessened as an excuse to tighten border security and deny migrants asylum and not have to detain illegal immigrants in the United States. This was often used by the Democratic party to attack conservative Republican policies. However, the order has remained in place, throughout the Biden administration, until now.

“In the absence of other relevant developments, the end of the public health emergency will end with Title 42″, stated the document presented before the US Supreme Court, which is hearing lawsuits from several states seeking to maintain the immigration restriction.

It is widely believed that an influx of migrants will occur across the Southern border as the order is suspended. The suspension of Title 42 also has great implications for those seeking. Mexico has agreed to receive at least 30,000 migrants expelled from the United States every month in exchange for a program to grant work visas and encourage orderly migration.

A group of migrant asylum seekers represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) had sued the US Federal Government over the policy, arguing that expulsions to Mexico exposed them to serious harm, such as kidnapping or assault.

In that case, US District Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington, DC, ruled in September 2022 that Title 42 was illegal. The judge, appointed by former Democratic President Bill Clinton, said the federal government failed to show that the risk of migrants spreading COVID-19 was “a real problem.”

Border Preparations 

US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told a news conference Wednesday that while they have been preparing for this moment for the past 2 years, authorities expect large numbers of arrests “in the days and weeks.” US Senators have warned that the flow of immigrants could increase from 6,300 people a day to between 10,000 and 13,000, doubling “the problem.”

US Border Patrol agents apprehended a record 2.2 million migrants at the Southwest border in the fiscal year 2022, which ended Sept. 30 of this year. About half of those arrested were quickly removed under the Title 42 policy.

Mayorkas stressed that the personnel of the Department of Homeland Security, the facilities, and the communities on the border are “under incredible pressure” and predicted that the plan launched by the government will yield results, but that it will take time. Mayorkas complained that human smugglers are spreading “false information” that the US-Mexico border will be open after May 11.

Announcement from the US State Department