US Supreme Court temporarily blocks removal of Trump-era migrant-blocking policy 'Title 42'

New York: The US Supreme Court has temporarily blocked the imminent removal of a key policy used by former president Donald Trump’s administration to block migrants at the southwest border. This comes amid rise in concerns over a surge in undocumented immigrants.

An order signed by Chief Justice John Roberts placed an emergency stay on the removal planned for Wednesday of Title 42.

The Chief Justice placed the US government immigration policy on hold in response to a last-minute petition from 20 Republican-led states arguing that ending Title 42 would create a massive inflow of migrants that would overwhelm their services.

The court also asked the Joe Biden administration and groups challenging the policy to file a response to the states’ request by Tuesday (20 December) 5:00 pm local time that is just hours before the restrictions are scheduled to expire.

Notably, last week, an appeals court in Washington ruled that there was no longer justification for using Title 42 to sweepingly reject asylum-seekers.

What is Title 42?

Often referred to as Title 42, the immigration restrictions were put in force under the regime of former US President Donald Trump in March 2020. It allowed the government to use Covid-19 safety protocols to block the entry of millions of migrants.

These restrictions have reportedly prevented hundreds of thousands of migrants from seeking asylum in the US in the recent years.

Title 42 has been named after a section of US laws that gives power to the government to take emergency action to keep diseases out of the country. It was invoked by Trump and remained in effect during the Biden administration.

These restrictions are set to expire on Wednesday and thousands more migrants are waiting in Shelters on Mexico’s border with the US.

Voicing concerns, the petition filed in the top court cited the Department of Homeland Security predicting that border crossings by migrants, most of whom ask for asylum, could triple to 18,000 every day.

Argument of states

The states argued that the removal of Title 42 would greatly increase number of migrants and increase the States’ law enforcement, education, and healthcare costs.

“Getting rid of Title 42 will recklessly and needlessly endanger more Americans and migrants by exacerbating the catastrophe that is occurring at our southern border,” Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said in a statement.

With inputs from agencies

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