U.S. to continue to enforce Trump-era migrant expulsion policy, CDC says


Following review, the Biden administration will continue to enforce an immigration policy enacted under former President Donald Trump that "that authorizes the rapid deportation of migrants from the U.S.-Mexico border" for pandemic-related reasons, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention told CBS News on Thursday.
The "unprecedented" order, known as Title 42, has long frustrated human rights groups, public health officials, and asylum advocates, "who are challenging the policy in federal court." But the White House has continued to defend its use of the policy, claiming it's protecting U.S. communities.
"At this time, [Title 42] remains in effect," a CDC spokesperson told CBS News. "The current reassessment examined the present impact of the pandemic throughout the United States and at the U.S. borders, taking special note of the surge in cases and hospitalizations since December due to the highly transmissible Omicron variant." Public health officials are to re-evaluate the need for the order every 60 days.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The policy allows the U.S. to send migrants back to their home countries without the opportunity to speak to a judge or an aslym officer, CBS News explains.
The current administration has, at this point, enforced Title 42 longer than the Trump administration, and has expelled over 1 million migrants in 11 months, versus the 400,000 from Trump's last year in office.
That said, President Biden has contended with "a record increase in migrant arrests at the U.S. southern border," notes CBS News. Also, "a larger percentage of migrants were processed under regular immigration procedures, which allow them to seek asylum, in 2021 than in 2020, when the start of the pandemic suppressed migration."
Read more at CBS News.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
-
5 hilariously heavenly editorial cartoons about the newly elected pope
Cartoons Artists take on the angel and the devil, music choices at the Vatican, and more
-
Celebrating 60 years of the Pennine Way
The Week Recommends This beautiful long-distance path immerses walkers in the beautiful British countryside
-
To ban or not to ban AfD? German democracy at a crossroads
Talking Point Germany's domestic intelligence agency has officially designated the country's main opposition party a right-wing extremist group
-
Supreme Court weighs court limits amid birthright ban
speed read President Trump's bid to abolish birthright citizenship has sparked questions among federal judges about blocking administration policies
-
Is Starmer's plan to send migrants overseas Rwanda 2.0?
Today's Big Question Failed asylum seekers could be removed to Balkan nations under new government plans
-
Gabbard fires intelligence chiefs after Venezuela report
speed read Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has fired the top two officials leading the National Intelligence Council
-
California may pull health care from eligible undocumented migrants
IN THE SPOTLIGHT After pushing for universal health care for all Californians regardless of immigration status, Gov. Gavin Newsom's latest budget proposal backs away from a key campaign promise
-
Trump vows to lift Syria sanctions
speed read The move would help the new government stabilize the country following years of civil war
-
Senate rejects Trump's Library of Congress takeover
speed read Congress resisted the president's attempts to control 'the legislative branch's premier research body'
-
Hamas frees US hostage in deal sidelining Israel
speed read Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old soldier, was the final living US citizen held by the militant group
-
White Afrikaners land in US as Trump-declared refugees
speed read An exception was made to Trump's near-total ban on admitting refugees for the white South Africans