Chief Justice grants GOP request to halt end of Title 42 policy

In a move that outraged migrant rights advocates, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on Monday granted a request from 19 GOP-led states to temporarily stop the Biden administration from winding down the Title 42 policy used to swiftly expel asylum-seekers during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Title 42 is the part of the U.S. public health code that both the Trump and Biden administrations have relied on to deny millions of people typical asylum proceedings. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan of the District of Columbia ruled last month that the policy should end by this Wednesday.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. on Friday unanimously rejected the states’ attempt to keep the policy in place. However, Roberts, who hears appeals from that court, issued a stay to stop the policy from ending and gave the Biden administration and rights advocates until 5:00 pm ET Tuesday to respond.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said late Monday that “as required by the Supreme Court’s administrative stay order, the Title 42 public health order will remain in effect at this time and individuals who attempt to enter the United States unlawfully will continue to be expelled to Mexico.”

“While this stage of the litigation proceeds, we will continue our preparations to manage the border in a safe, orderly, and humane way when the Title 42 public health order lifts,” the department added. “We urge Congress to use this time to provide the funds we have requested for border security and management and advance the comprehensive immigration measures President [Joe] Biden proposed on his first day in office.”

As GOP leaders—and right-wing Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.)—welcomed Roberts’ order as a “big win,” rights advocates like Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, said that “it is deeply regrettable that the Supreme Court has delayed the restoration of long-standing asylum law. The Biden administration must make a full-throated defense of our humanitarian obligations in the face of politically motivated litigation.”

“Title 42 has never been grounded in any public health rationale,” she noted. “Beyond its blatant violation of U.S. law and common decency, the policy has been highly ineffective as a border enforcement tool. More than 2.4 million expulsions later, Title 42 has only driven up repeat attempts to cross the border and lined the pockets of cartel smugglers who prey on vulnerable asylum-seekers.”

“The U.S. is facing a new normal in terms of the sheer scale of global displacement today,” she continued. “More than ever before, children and families are seeking safety on our shores as they escape unimaginable violence, persecution, poverty, and climate disaster. It is incumbent upon the Biden administration to continue operationalizing its plan to surge resources, deploy personnel, and bolster nonprofits and local communities on the ground to welcome asylum-seekers with dignity.”

Originally published at Commondreams.org.