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3 GOP states sue Biden administration over end of restrictive pandemic border policy
Three Republican-led states on Monday sued the Biden administration over its recently-announced plan to end a policy that allows the U.S. to expeditiously expel migrants at the southern border, The Hill reports.
The suit was filed by Missouri, Arizona, and Louisiana.
The policy in question, known as Title 42, was implemented under former President Donald Trump for public health and COVID-19-related reasons, the Hill writes. The measure is governed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who on Friday announced the order would be coming to an end on May 23.
In the lawsuit, the three GOP states are attempting to block the end of Title 42 by "arguing the [CDC], which issued the order, violated the Administrative Procedures Act by failing to allow for a comment period on its revocation," the Hill writes. Notably, the CDC did not implement the rule using such a rulemaking process; instead, the Trump administration used a so-called "sunset clause," which requires the CDC to review the order's necessity every 60 days. The states also argued in their suit that an end to Title 42 would bring about a large immigration surge with the potential to overwhelm border agents.
"The Termination Order will create an unprecedented surge at the border that will overwhelm Defendants' capacity to enforce immigration laws at the border," the states wrote, per the Hill.
Notably, Title 42 was never intended to be or become official immigration policy; it is simply a public health order, Department of Homeland Security officials have repeatedly commented.
Though critics of the policy celebrated its impending termination, there are nonetheless plenty of people who were upset by the administration's decision. For example, in addition to the suit from Arizona, Missouri, and Louisiana, some belive a challenge out of Texas could be in the works.