Title 42, a US immigration rule allowing authorities to quickly remove migrants and asylum seekers in the name of public health, will be scrapped by the Biden administration in late May. The policy, originally enforced under the Trump administration following the coronavirus outbreak, aimed to curb the spread of COVID-19 by limiting immigration.
Critics warn that lifting Title 42 could lead to a surge of immigrants entering the US, marking a significant shift in US border policy. The decision to end the policy follows two federal court rulings against the Biden administration’s attempts to retain the restrictions.
Guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) led to the removal of more than 1.7 million migrants from the US under Title 42 over the past two years. Notably, 70% of these expulsions occurred under the Biden administration, which kept the policy despite reversing many of Trump’s other controversial immigration rules.
Title 42 is part of US public health laws from the 1940s, allowing for the rapid removal of migrants to Mexico or their home countries without permitting them to apply for US asylum—a legal safeguard justified by the government during a public health emergency.
Since August 2021, the CDC has reviewed Title 42 every 60 days to assess its necessity. The most recent assessment was due recently but has yet to be published. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is preparing for a potential influx of migrants when the policy ends in May, estimating that 12,000 to 18,000 migrants could enter the US daily under worst-case scenarios.
The DHS anticipates that such an influx could overwhelm US immigration authorities at the border, necessitating the deployment of thousands of federal employees, doubling the number of buses and planes for migrant transport, and significantly increasing capacity at Customs and Border Protection (CBP) processing centers.
A recent Washington court ruling requires US immigration agents to interview families with children to determine if they have a valid asylum claim before removal, potentially undermining Title 42’s primary goal of reducing the number of migrants entering the US.
