Title 42 expulsion
A Title 42 expulsion is the removal by the U.S. government of a person who had recently been in a country where a communicable disease was present. The extent of authority for contagion-related expulsions is set out by law in 42 U.S.C. § 265. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) under the Trump administration used this provision to generally block land entry for many migrants. This practice was initially continued by the Biden administration[1] before the program was ended with the end of the COVID-19 national emergency on May 12, 2023. Title 42 of the United States Code includes numerous sections dealing with public health, social welfare, and civil rights, but, in the context of immigration, the phrase "Title 42" came to be used to refer specifically to expulsions under section 265.
The program allows U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to prohibit the entry of persons who potentially pose a health risk by being subject to previously announced travel restrictions or by unlawfully entering the country to bypass health-screening measures.[2][3][4] Persons subject to the order are not held in congregate areas for processing and are instead immediately expelled to their country of last transit.[3] If they are unable to be returned to the country of last transit (because that country will not accept them due to their nationality), CBP will work with its interagency partners to expel the person to their country of origin.[3] In some cases, this is not possible, and migrants may be expelled to a third country that will accept them based on previous residency.[5] Expulsions under Title 42 are not based on immigration status and are tracked separately from immigration.[3] At the discretion of the Presidential administration, Title 42 can be used even for people who would normally have temporary protected status based on their country of origin.[6]
The CDC's policy under Title 42 was unenforceable from November 15, 2022, when D.C. federal judge Emmet G. Sullivan ruled that the policy is a violation of the Administrative Procedure Act,[7] until December 19 when the chief justice of the United States, John Roberts, issued a temporary hold on Sullivan's ruling,[8] followed by the full court in a 5–4 vote on December 27.[9] In the days preceding the policy's repeal on May 11, 2023, the number of migrants crossing the border increased. More than 10,000 illegal border crossers were apprehended daily between May 8 and 9, according to Brandon Judd, president of the Border Patrol union.[10]
Criticism[edit]
Title 42 has been criticized by several human rights groups including the American Civil Liberties Union,[48] Amnesty International USA,[49] Human Rights Watch,[50] Human Rights First,[51] and the American Immigration Council.[52] These groups argue that the policy allows the United States to illegally expel asylum seekers without any legal process.[48]
In February 2021, more than 60 congresspeople, led by Congresswoman Frederica S. Wilson, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Gregory W. Meeks, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, and Homeland Security Committee Chair Bennie G. Thompson, sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas calling on him to end the practice. In the letter, they argued that Mayorkas should employ alternative forms of humanitarian relief for detainees subject to deportation for the remainder of the pandemic.[53]