The Supreme Court of the United States ruled on Tuesday (27) that the controversial policy known as Title 42 will remain in effect while legal challenges occur, allowing federal authorities to continue expelling immigrants from the country’s borders for at least the next few months.
The order, determined by a 5-4 vote, is a victory for states led by Republicans, who appealed to the Supreme Court when lower courts ordered the end of the practice. The Biden administration stated that it was prepared for the end of Title 42 and took precautions to avoid confusion at the border.
The court said it would hear arguments on the case starting in February 2023.
Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch was one of the votes in favor of ending the policy and explained his thinking in an order accompanied by liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Gorsuch stated that he “does not dismiss the states’ concerns” about border security. But Gorsuch noted that Title 42 was created to combat Covid-19 and “the current crisis at the border is not a Covid crisis.”
Since March 2020, Title 42 has allowed U.S. border agents to immediately reject immigrants crossing the border, without giving them the opportunity to present a case to immigration courts, as a way to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Immigrant advocates and public health experts have long denounced the misuse of a public health measure to prevent immigrants from entering the United States. In nearly three years, the policy has been used more than 2 million times to expel immigrants, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
At the border, immigrants have been waiting for months in camps in Mexico, anticipating the end of the policy so they can apply for asylum in the United States.
El Paso, Texas, is at the center of the crisis, as thousands of immigrants cross that region of the border. The city has opened government-run shelters in its convention center, hotels, and several schools, although some still have to sleep on the streets in the low temperatures of this winter.