The Biden Administration announced Friday that it plans to lift border controls from the era Trump that allowed authorities to quickly expel migrants and asylum seekers during the pandemic.
The public health authority, known as Title 42, will end on May 23, giving officials some time to prepare for an expected influx of migrants at the US-Mexico border that poses significant political and humanitarian challenges to the House. Blanca before the midterm elections.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced Friday that the transition period would allow the Department of Homeland Security to implement “appropriate COVID-19 mitigation protocols, such as expanding a to provide COVID-19 vaccinations to migrants and prepare for the resumption of regular immigration activities under Title 8.”
Democratic lawmakers and immigrant rights advocates have long pushed President Joe Biden to abandon Title 42, saying the policy used Covid-19 as a pretext to abandon legal obligations that allow people in. who are seeking asylum. They have generally expressed frustration with the pace at which Biden has undone the former president’s hard-line immigration policies. Donald Trump.
Administration officials, governors and lawmakers have warned of a possible surge in migrants and asylum seekers at the southwest border if the measure is lifted at a time when apprehensions are already high. That could fuel criticism from Republicans that Biden’s policies are causing an influx of people to the border.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said this week that authorities were encountering migrants about 7,100 times a day, up from 6,800 in February, putting the US on track to potentially surpass the previous highs.
“We have every expectation that when the CDC finally decides that it is appropriate to lift Title 42, there will be an influx of people to the border,” White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said Wednesday. “We are working hard to plan for that contingency.”
To prepare for a surge in encounters, DHS said this week it will deploy more agents to the border, build more detention facilities, expand processing capacity and purchase more transportation for migrants.
Some Democrats have also expressed apprehension about the termination of Title 42. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia this week urged the CDC to keep the policy in place, citing the rise in global Covid-19 cases and the high number of border arrests. Senators Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona said Wednesday that DHS did not have an adequate plan for an anticipated increase in crossings when the policy ends.
The administration Trump imposed the border limits in March 2020 as the coronavirus spread rapidly. Officials said at the time they were designed to keep the virus out of the US but immigrant rights advocates called it an excuse to achieve Trump’s goal of effectively closing the border to immigrants whom a once ridiculed as rapists and criminals.
It was one of the most radical actions Trump took to end migration. Title 42 resulted in the rapid removal of migrants from the US about 1.7 million times in the last two years without the opportunity to apply for asylum, as is their right under US and international law.
While Trump supporters hailed the move as effective, critics say it has led to an increase in border crossings. Migrants returned to Mexico under Title 42 are sent back without a deportation order, which may encourage them to try to enter the U.S. again. The rate at which people tried to cross the border multiple times jumped from 7% in March 2020 to 27% by the end of 2021, according to the American Immigration Council.
–
