A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Title 42 policy that permitted border agents to expel immigrants from the country quickly without letting them seek asylum, overturning a Trump-era policy that carried into President Joe Biden‘s administration.
D.C. federal district court Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled the policy was in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act, effectively preventing the Biden administration from using it as a way to deter immigrants.
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The policy was implemented during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic as a means to expel immigrants immediately on the basis of public health.
EXPLAINED: TITLE 42, THE POLICY AT THE CENTER OF THE BORDER DEBATE
The Tuesday decision “declares the Title 42 policy to be arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act and permanently enjoins defendants and their agents from applying the Title 42 policy,” according to Sullivan’s 49-page opinion.
The decision was lauded by American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Lee Gelernt, who represented immigrants who challenged the policy.
“Title 42 was never about public health, and this ruling finally ends the charade of using Title 42 to bar desperate asylum seekers from even getting a hearing,” he said in a statement.
A week after then-President Donald Trump declared a national emergency over the coronavirus pandemic on March 13, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention invoked Title 42 of the Public Health Service Act of 1944, giving it the ability to deny the admission of goods and people who pose a risk of spreading a communicable disease.
Although Title 42 is a policy of the Trump era, the Biden administration utilized it heavily to manage the historic influx of immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border over the past two years.
Sullivan criticized the CDC’s order that allowed the policy to go into effect in 2020, saying it “ignore[d] the harm that could be caused.” He noted the agency failed to consider other options, such as allowing immigrants to self-quarantine in homes of U.S.-based friends, family, or shelters and noted the CDC should have reexamined its approach when COVID-19 vaccines and testing became more widely available in 2021.
“With regard to whether defendants could have ‘ramped up vaccinations, outdoor processing, and all other available public health measures’ … the court finds the CDC failed to articulate a satisfactory explanation for why such measures were not feasible,” Sullivan added.
The CDC attempted to end its order earlier this year, arguing it was no longer necessary given the decreased threat of the pandemic, though a federal judge blocked the administration from ending Title 42 in May.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Although Title 42 expulsions dwindled from their highest monthly numbers, over 100,000 per month in the spring of 2021 and 2022, more than 81,000 people were still processed using the policy in October, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.
In recent months, the policy had been used to expel nearly 25,000 Haitians fleeing from their country as well as an influx of Venezuelan immigrants at the U.S. southern border.
