Judge orders Biden administration to stop expelling migrant families using public health order

(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

published 16 September 2021

The Biden administration has just been blocked from using a public health order to expel migrant families.

Judge Emmet Sullivan on Thursday barred the administration from expelling migrant families at the border under Title 42, CBS News and CNN report. Given the "the wide availability of testing, vaccines, and other minimization measures," Sullivan said the court wasn't "convinced that the transmission of COVID-19 during border processing cannot be significantly mitigated."

The Biden administration had previously been criticized for continuing the policy from former President Donald Trump's administration. As American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Lee Gelernt argued, "We do not believe that the Delta variant is a basis for expelling people without a hearing," per NPR. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) also argued the "harmful" policy had been "weaponized to deny families their fundamental right to seek asylum." The Biden administration exempted unaccompanied children from the policy, CBS News notes, and the judge said in the ruling Thursday that "the government has successfully implemented mitigation measures with regard to processing unaccompanied minors in order to minimize risk of COVID-19 transmission."

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Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.

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