The Biden administration ended the Title 42 policy that allowed the U.S. to expel migrants on public health grounds in May 2023, leading to a slight decrease in migrant apprehensions along the southwest border. Here are some key facts about the policy and its impact on border security.
– Title 42 was enacted by the Trump administration in March 2020, citing a World War II-era public health law that grants the government the power to prohibit the introduction of persons and property to stop a contagious disease from spreading in the U.S.
– The policy authorized U.S. border officials to expel migrants soon after they were taken into custody, without allowing them to seek asylum or other forms of humanitarian protection.
– The policy was challenged by several lawsuits and opposed by human rights groups, who argued that it violated U.S. and international law and exposed migrants to danger and violence in Mexico.
– The Biden administration defended the policy for over a year, saying it was necessary to protect public health and border agents from COVID-19, but announced its intention to end it in the spring of 2023, citing the improving pandemic situation and drop in coronavirus infections.
– However, a coalition of Republican-led states managed to block the policy’s termination in court, arguing that it would harm their interests and cause a surge of migrants at the border.
– In November 2022, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled that Title 42 was illegal and ordered the government to stop expelling migrants under the policy by December 31, 2022.
– The same group of Republican-led states appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court, which agreed to delay the policy’s end until it decides whether the states have standing to defend it in court.
– In May 2023, Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 165,000 migrants who crossed the southwest border from Mexico between ports of entry, according to an unofficial Border Patrol report. This is about a nine percent decrease from the more than 182,000 migrants in April.
– The May apprehensions bring the total number of southwest border migrant apprehensions for Fiscal Year 2023 to just over 1.4 million migrants. This is less than two percent behind the same period last year. By the end of FY2022, agents had apprehended a record-shattering 2.2 million migrants along the nine southwest border sectors.
– The Rio Grande Valley Sector remained as the busiest of the nine southwest border sectors, with more than 36,000 migrant apprehensions in May. This was followed by the Tucson Sector (30,000), Del Rio Sector (30,000), El Paso Sector (26,000), and San Diego Sector (23,000).
– In addition to the migrant apprehensions, nearly 51,000 migrants were classified as known got-aways in May. This means they evaded capture by border agents after crossing illegally into the U.S.
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