As Title 42 Ends, US Prepares for Increased Immigration

Last night, officially marked the conclusion of the Public Health Emergency for Covid-19 in the United States. This ending will also mean that the much-debated Title 42 immigration policy will be terminated.

What Is Title 42?

In March 2020, a public health policy was instituted that gave the US Border Patrol the authority to reject migrants claiming asylum in an attempt to hinder the spread of Covid.

Title 42 has been used to expel migrants more than 2.8 million times since the policy began.

Children, traveling alone, were exempt from the policy but it’s been asymmetrically enforced by nationality because it’s more difficult to expel people to certain countries like Haiti, Venezuela, and Cuba.

The ACLU and other activist groups were critical of the policy for exploiting public health to deny immigrants entry into the nation.

Now, the regulations at the border will be reverted to pre-pandemic regulations which permit asylum-seekers to stay in the US while their cases are being handled.

Why Is It Ending?

As the Biden administration is bringing the national public health emergency to a close, Title 42 is no longer supported by a lawful foundation.

However, this is not the first time the heavily disputed rule has almost come to an end.

In April 2022, the CDC declared that the policy was unnecessary because vaccines and treatments were commercially available, but stopped short of ending the health emergency.

Although Title 42 has been canceled, there are political factions within the government that seek to maintain the policy as the status quo.

Expect ongoing legal disputes in the days and weeks to come.

Will There Be An Immigration Surge?

Officials forecast that those who tried to enter the US during Title 42 may try again, aware that they can't be rejected so readily.

Several cities have already declared states of emergency.

The Texas cities of Brownsville, El Paso, and Laredo have a reported 2,300 people living on the streets due to shelters reaching their maximum occupancy.

Chicago, known as a "sanctuary city", has seen over 8,000 migrants come to its borders in the past year.

Two counties in New York declared their own state of emergency after the New York City Mayor suggested housing migrants in suburban hotels.

Going forward, the Biden government has dispatched an additional 1,500 military personnel to the frontier. The president is also enlarging lawful paths into the US for migrants.

Nevertheless, whether or not the federal government has an appropriate blueprint to cope with the rise in migrants at the border is yet to be determined.

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