The Supreme Court of the United States decided on Tuesday to keep Title 42 in force indefinitely, a directive applied during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, which allows migrants seeking asylum at the border to be sent to Mexico.
In Tuesday’s ruling, the Supreme Court extended a temporary suspension that Chief Justice John Roberts issued last week. Likewise, it was determined that the Court will review the issue of whether the states have the right to intervene in the legal dispute surrounding Title 42 between now and June.
Title 42 was established under then-President Donald Trump at the start of the pandemic, in March 2020.
With these restrictions, US officials have removed migrants within the United States some 2.5 million times and turned away most people who applied for asylum at the border on the grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19, according to data from the Office of Customs and Border Protection (CBP, for its acronym in English).
Immigrant advocacy organizations have filed a lawsuit to end the enforcement of Title 42, arguing that the policy goes against US and international obligations to people fleeing persecution. They also argued that the policy is outdated due to improvements in coronavirus treatments.
A federal judge sided with them in November, setting a December 21 deadline to end the policy. A group of conservative-leaning states then turned to the Supreme Court to prevent the restrictions from being lifted, warning that an increase in immigration would affect public services and cause “unprecedented calamity.”
In fact, the governor of Texas, the Republican Gregg Abbott, who has promoted various restrictive policies to deal with immigration tweeted immediately Tuesday upon breaking the news: “Supreme Court orders Title 42 border restriction to remain in effect.”
Judge Roberts, who deals with emergency matters that come from the federal courts in the nation’s capital, issued a stay a few days ago to give the court time to further examine the arguments of both parties.
US President Joe Biden, a Democrat, kept the restrictions in place for more than a year after taking office in 2021, despite vowing to back away from the hardline immigration policies embraced by his predecessor, Trump, and committing to to implement sweeping reforms.
“The court is not going to decide until June, apparently, and in the meantime we have to apply it, but I think it is something that should have been done,” Biden told reporters at the White House after learning of the ruling that leaves the suspension of measure.
For his part, through releasethe secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Alejandro Mayorkas, reiterated on behalf of the Administration that “the border is not open”.
“People should not listen to the lies of traffickers who take advantage of vulnerable migrants, putting their lives at risk,” he said, while warning about the measures. to take “we will continue to fully enforce our immigration laws.”
About half of those arrested, reported by CBP, were quickly removed under the Title 42 policy.
“Not indefinitely,” responds the White House
Upon learning of the decision of the Supreme Court, the White House expressed through a release of the press that it will respect the judicial mandate, but considered that it should not be a measure in perpetuity.
“Of course, we will comply with the order and prepare for the Court’s review,” Administration spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said.
In addition, the press secretary, although she pointed out that “Title 42 is a public health measure,” also made her opinion clear: “it is not an immigration control measure, and it should not be extended indefinitely.”
The White House has constantly put the ball in the Republican field, urging congressmen to approve the immigration reform proposed by the current administration at the beginning of its term.
“To truly fix our broken immigration system, we need Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform measures like the ones President Biden proposed on his first day in office,” Jean-Pierre said. “Today’s order gives them Give Republicans in Congress a long time to stop pointing the political finger and join their fellow Democrats in solving the challenge at our border by passing comprehensive reform measures and delivering the additional border security funding the President has requested. Biden”.
In contrast, Governor Abbott himself, once again via Twitter, accused the Biden Administration of creating “this unsustainable crisis.” “The Texas National Guard is installing more barbed wire barriers and parking Humvees along the border to curb illegal crossings.”
A “renewal” of the laws
In a defense statement in favor of immigrants, the Alianza Americas organization stressed in a release: “Title 42 should never have been invoked. What we need is a renewal of our immigration and humanitarian protection policies.”
In this sense, Oscar Chacón, executive director of the organization, criticized the use of the mandate for health purposes and considered that it has been detrimental to the safety of immigrants.
“Title 42 was never about protecting public health and has done nothing to create more orderly migration along the US-Mexico border,” Chacón said, quoted in the statement.
[Con reportes de Reuters y Associated Press]
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