The United States announced this Wednesday that it will deploy 1,500 more soldiers on the border with Mexico that “they will not participate directly in activities to maintain order”, given a foreseeable increase in migrants when the rule that allows many of them to be prevented from entering is lifted.
On May 11, a controversial sanitary regulation known as Title 42 will be ineffective, that allows the immediate blocking or expulsion of the vast majority of migrants who arrive at the border without a visa or documentation required to enter.
What is title 42 and what comes next? A B C.
What is Title 42?
In March 2020, The government of former President Donald Trump activated this sanitary device to be able to expel undocumented migrants without delay detained at land borders, including potential asylum seekers.
This measure of immediate expulsion does not allow appeal and does not provide for any automatic return to the country of origin. Although there are some exceptions for Ukrainians, since the invasion of their country by Russia, or for unaccompanied minors.
(Also read: USA: uncertainty reigns at the border after decision to maintain Title 42)
Why do you get so much criticism?
Human rights defenders and experts consider that the rule is in violation of international treaties, because they believe that it is “inhumane” to prevent a potential asylum seeker from formulating his request.
According to them, the current arrangement only encourages migrants to cross the border clandestinely and take ever greater risks to do so, crossing hostile deserts or rivers where they could drown.
Under Title 42 there have been 2.7 million expulsions, according to his calculations.
Faced with their imminent uprising, on Monday, the mayors of the Texas cities of Laredo and El Paso, on the border with Mexico, declared a state of emergency to “prepare for the increase in migrants that is expected.”
(You may be interested: Will Colombians be able to travel without a visa to the United States in 2023?)
Why has it been the focus of a legal battle?
Title 42 has been the subject of several different court battles. A court of first instance, and then an appeal court, ruled in favor of repealing it.
A federal judge in the District of Columbia ruled in mid-November ordering the suspension of Title 42 effective December 21. But the decision was appealed by prosecutors from 19 states and by the Biden government. This judge, Emmett Sullivan, denied the motion of the 19 states to intervene in this case.
So, prosecutors went to the Supreme Courtasking him to injunctively suspend Title 42 and review the decision of the lower court that prevented them from participating in the trial.
The 19-state petition argued that the lifting of Title 42 would cause “massive and irreparable damage to the statesparticularly those who bear the consequences of irregular immigration”.
In their lawsuit before the Supreme Court, prosecutors assumed that the end of this policy would lead to an increase in border crossings, so that state authorities will have to “dedicate additional funds to security, education and medical care.”
“The idea that the states will not suffer substantial and irreparable damage as a result of the imminent catastrophe that will cause the end of Title 42 is unreasonable,” they pointed out in the petition to the Supreme Court.
(Keep reading: 2022, the year the most migrants have died at the US-Mexico border.)
In December, a court judge forced the parties involved to submit a response within 24 hours. After receiving the responses, the Supreme Court had to decide whether to allow Title 42 to stand while the lower courts resolve the case.
And finally, that was the decision that came in December when the Supreme Court, in a decision made with the vote of five judges in favor of four against, agreed to freeze the suspension of Title 42 while the future of this rule was discussed in court.
But after the fight in court, Title 42 will cease to be in force with the law promulgated in April that ends the current national emergency declarations on the 11th and public health decreed by Trump in 2020 due to the pandemic.
What comes after the end of Title 42?
Title 42 will be replaced by Title 8, which allows for the removal of all migrants who do not have an authorization to enter and, unlike Title 42, will penalize them with a re-entry ban of at least five years if they try again. as well as possible criminal proceedings.
The Pentagon also announced that starting May 10 and for a period of 90 days, 1,500 reinforcement soldiers will be sent to the border with Mexico to support US Border Patrol agents.
Recognizing that time is running out, DHS is attempting to address the problem on multiple fronts. At the end of April, he announced several measures, such as the opening of centers in Colombia and Guatemala to pre-select migrants who will be able to enter the country. It also promises to “simplify” the family reunification permit processes for Cubans and Haitians and will extend them to citizens of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Colombia.
The CBP One application will remain in force so that migrants can schedule a time and place from Mexico to appear at a port of entry. And the entry of quotas of migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela will also continue.
But various groups in the US, especially the Republicans, have already called on President Biden for an “acceptable” policy against irregular immigration on the southern border.
Republicans Lindsey Graham, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz warned at a press conference that the expiration of that regulation will exacerbate the already “humanitarian and security disaster” on the border with Mexico.
“May 11 is going to be a nightmare day for Americans. (Title 42) is one of the most effective tools to discourage illegal immigration. All hell is going to break loose next week,” Graham said at the Senate.
For Cornyn, “what is currently a flood of people (at the border) is on its way to becoming a tsunami.” “We’re here to say: if you think things are already bad, they’re going to get worse.”
Republicans estimate that the end of Title 42 will double the influx of migrants from Mexico and that border police will be overwhelmed. “In the next 90 days, you’re going to (see) 900,000 to 1.1 million” migrants coming across the border, Graham predicted.
Biden has put an end to the construction of the wall that his predecessor, the Republican Donald Trump, wanted to build on the border with Mexico, but he has broken his promise of immigration reform to open the path to citizenship for millions of migrants and especially those “dreamers”, the young people who came to the United States as children.
And it is that Biden’s room for maneuver has been very limited since the beginning of his term and especially now, with Congress divided: the Senate in the hands of the Democrats and the House of Representatives with a slight Republican majority. He is also not helped by the fact that radical Republicans rule some states and that the Supreme Court is clearly conservative.
For now, the government is taking urgent measures to deal with the end of Title 42.
ANGIE NATALY RUIZ HURTADO
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
TIME
*With information from AFP and EFE
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