A federal judge ruled on Friday that Title 42, the public health order meant to stem the tide of COVID-19 at the southern border, will stay in place past May 23.
Attorney Generals in Arizona, Louisiana, and Missouri filed lawsuits to keep Title 42 in place amid a historic surge in illegal border crossings that has occurred under the Biden administration.
#BREAKING A federal judge in Louisiana keeps #Title42 in place. The health code which allowed for immediate explosion of migrants was to be lifted Monday.
— Ali Bradley (@AliBradleyTV) May 20, 2022
Ruling: https://t.co/dIpIQslbX1
BREAKING: Federal Court stops Biden from ending Title 42.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) May 20, 2022
The court granted a nationwide injunction to keep Title 42 in place.
Title 42 allows Border Patrol agents to rapidly expel illegal immigrants to prevent COVID-19 exposure among themsleves and agents while they would be processed at facilities under non-pandemic times. Critics of keeping Title 42 say it prevents illegal immigrants from claiming asylum while not deterring repeated illegal crossings. Even with Title 42 being in place, Border Patrol has continued to encounter historic illegal crossings because the Department of Homeland Security has applied the public health order to fewer and fewer groups of people.
Border Patrol agents encountered 234,088 illegal immigrants during the month of April, which is the most border encounters in the history of DHS. Over 117,000 people were released after being process by Border Patrol and only 96,908 were expelled under Title 42. Border Patrol encountered 221,303 illegal immigrants in March and 165,894 illegal immigrants in February.