Federal Judge Blocks Biden Admin from Revoking Title 42

A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the Biden administration from revoking Title 42, technically allowing the continued expulsions of migrants at the southern border on a public-health basis.

Louisiana judge Robert Summerhays issued a preliminary injunction, a copy of which was obtained by Fox News, on the Biden administration’s directive to end the order on May 23, after two dozen Republican-controlled states launched a lawsuit challenging it.

The plaintiffs, the Republican states, claimed that the decision to suspend Title 42 was extremely irresponsible as it would fuel another wave of unprecedented illegal migration but also because it violated the Administrative Procedures Act. The complaint cited anonymous DHS officials, who warned that “ending Title 42 would lead to what one DHS agent described as a ‘surge on top of a surge’.” It also mentioned the massive financial burden likely to be imposed on states as a result of the order.

“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 complaint read.

In April, the Biden administration announced its plans to lift the measure after the CDC claimed that there was no longer a Covid-19 risk associated with processing migrants, an administration official told Politico.

“After considering current public health conditions and an increased availability of tools to fight COVID-19 (such as highly effective vaccines and therapeutics), the CDC Director has determined that an Order suspending the right to introduce migrants into the United States is no longer necessary,” the agency wrote on its website in April.

Republicans have slammed the move, which would remove pandemic-related asylum limits, fearing that it will precipitate a never-ending flood of migrants across the border. Facilities and border personnel have been overwhelmed and under-resourced for many months since the beginning of the border crisis under the Biden administration. Calls to maintain Title 42 have come from both sides of the aisle, however. In early April, a bipartisan group of senators proposed legislation that would block the repeal of the Title 42 border policy unless the Biden administration presented a plan to curb a potential spike in illegal border crossings.

“Today’s ruling is a significant win as Title 42 is one of the few policies that is actually working,” Arizona attorney general Mark Brnovich told Fox News about the judge’s Friday ruling. Arizona was one of three states, in addition to Louisiana and Missouri, to spearhead the lawsuit.

“I’m grateful to the court for upholding the rule of law and helping maintain some level of sanity as we continue to battle the Biden-made border crisis,” he added.

The Department of Justice announced it will appeal the judge’s decision, claiming that there is no legitimate basis to keep imposing Title 42 given the reduced public health threat Covid-19 poses.

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) invoked its authority under Title 42 due to the unprecedented public-health dangers caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. CDC has now determined, in its expert opinion, that continued reliance on this authority is no longer warranted in light of the current public-health circumstances. That decision was a lawful exercise of CDC’s authority,” the DOJ said in a statement.  The Department of Justice intends to appeal the court’s decision in Louisiana et al. v. CDC et al.”

“The Administration disagrees with the court’s ruling, and the Department of Justice has announced that it will appeal this decision. The authority to set public health policy nationally should rest with the Centers for Disease Control, not with a single district court,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre added.

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