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

(Image credit: Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

published 4 February 2022

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.

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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."