Supreme Court blocks White House, keeps Trump-era border controls in place

Immigrants warm themselves by a fire on the border.

(Image credit: John Moore/Getty Images)

published 28 December 2022

In a 5-4 vote on Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled that the pandemic-era border restriction Title 42 can temporarily remain in place as it considers legal challenges brought by Republican-led states, CNN reports.

The controversial policy, which is a public health measure and allows U.S. border agents to turn away asylum seekers at the border in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19, has been a target of the Biden administration, which moved to end it in 2021 in order to return to regular immigration policies.

Critics have expressed concern about the ability of the government to manage the influx of migrants that would follow the lifting of Title 42, while Justice Neil Gorsuch argued in his dissent that "the current border crisis is not a COVID crisis. And courts should not be in the business of perpetuating administrative edicts designed for one emergency only because elected officials have failed to address a different emergency."

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.