A Louisiana federal court barred the Biden administration from ending the pandemic health policy known as Title 42 on May 23.
Title 42 has been a great help for border authorities to expel nearly all migrants from the border in the interest of stopping the spread of COVID-19. The states of Missouri, Arizona, and Louisiana brought suit earlier this month in Federal court to keep the restrictions in place.
Lifting the restrictions could mean a surge of illegal immigrants adding to our current border crisis that Joe Biden failed to address.
The move delays what Homeland Security officials predicted would prompt an unprecedented rush of migrants to the U.S.-Mexico border and is a major win for the three Republican states that brought the lawsuit in early April, which 18 other states have since joined.
Here’s what Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt wrote in a post on Twitter Monday afternoon:
“In a lawsuit originally filed by Missouri, Louisiana, and Arizona, our Office just obtained a temporary restraining order to keep Title 42 in place. This is a huge victory for border security, but the fight continues on.”
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said in a statement applauding the court decision:
“We applaud the court for approving our request for a temporary restraining order to keep Title 42 in place. The Biden administration cannot continue in flagrant disregard for existing law and required administrative procedures.”
Daily Wire gives us more details of the story:
Critics say that scrapping the health policy will lead to a flood of immigration that the administration is not equipped to handle. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has disputed questions of the federal government’s readiness, but he has acknowledged that the department expects a jump in immigration after the rule is ended.
“This suit challenges an imminent, man-made, self-inflicted calamity: the abrupt elimination of the only safety valve preventing this administration’s disastrous border policies from devolving into an unmitigated catastrophe,” the attorneys general lawsuit says. Summerhays ruled that the lawsuit has merit and blocked Title 42’s ending while the lawsuit moves forward.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced in April that it planned to end the policy on May 23. The announcement received bipartisan pushback from Republicans and moderate Democrats who expressed concerns over the impact of ending the policy on immigration.
“Title 42 has been an essential tool in combatting the spread of COVID-19 and controlling the influx of migrants at our southern border,” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said in a statement. “We are already facing an unprecedented increase in migrants this year, and that will only get worse if the Administration ends the Title 42 policy. We are nowhere near prepared to deal with that influx. Until we have comprehensive, bipartisan immigration reform that commits to securing our borders and providing a pathway to citizenship for qualified immigrants, Title 42 must stay in place.”
Democrats who are up for reelection in November are taking a hint from polls that show the public is upset with the administration’s handling of the border, urging them to inch away from Biden. Nine Senate Democrats have come out against the plan to terminate Title 42.
