Supreme Court maintains Title 42 that allows expelling migrants

First modification: 12/28/2022 – 10:56

The Supreme Court of the United States has resolved to keep Title 42 in force, a rule established by Donald Trump when he was president, and which allows the “hot” expulsion of migrants to Mexico. Trump dusted off the measure, used for the first time in 1929 to contain Asian immigration, citing health reasons, at the beginning of the pandemic.

In principle, this norm should be without effect the first minute of Wednesday, December 21, but due to the opposition of the 19 states that requested that the measure be maintained, this norm remained in force for days until, finally, the Court Supreme has manifested maintaining it. The judges made the announcement without further explanation and without signing, adding that they will study the case in depth next year.

The 19 states in favor of this motion argue that if this Title 42 is lifted, they would have to face an unmanageable flow of migrants, as well as “an unprecedented crisis at the border.”

Listen here to the correspondent of our correspondent Silvina Sterin Pensel

Title 42 is a norm criticized by human rights defenders because, under the excuse of health protection, it allows all people who try to enter the United States and do not have the proper visa to be expelled. The problem is that this also includes refugee claimants, people who flee their countries because their lives are in danger, be it political or other persecution, as stipulated in the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention.

In this regard, RFI spoke with Pedro Ríos, director of the NGO Committee of Friends of San Diego who regrets the decision

It is a very unfortunate decision because we know that the application of Title 42 has created conditions where many migrants – apart from being expelled and where due legal process is not respected – are resorting to crossing the border using very dangerous measures. We have seen a high number of migrants who have lost their lives or who have been injured in the attempt to cross into the United States and at the same time there is confusion about what are the current procedures that migrants must follow.

Pedro Ríos denounces that there is currently a lot of confusion because some migrants realize that despite the validity of Title 42, they have managed to apply for refuge at the border, which encourages others to take dangerous paths to try their luck.

It seems that for certain migrants there is a way to the United States. They are being recognized the right to apply for asylum. For example, a couple of weeks ago I was in El Paso, Texas, and I saw, for example, that people from Nicaragua, from Cuba, from Colombia were allowed to enter the United States, make contact with the Border Patrol authorities, while Venezuelan people did not have that same, that same opportunity. So it creates a lot of frustration, a lot of confusion.

Listen to the full interview by clicking here ►►