COVID restrictions for migrants at U.S. border cannot end yet, judge
rules
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[May 21, 2022] By
Kristina Cooke and Mica Rosenberg
(Reuters) -U.S. authorities were blocked by
a federal judge on Friday from lifting COVID-19 restrictions that
empower agents at the U.S.-Mexico border to turn back migrants without
giving them a chance to seek asylum.
The nationwide injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Robert
Summerhays in Louisiana means the restrictions, which were set to end on
May 23, will remain in place across the border as the litigation
proceeds, unless a higher court overturns the ruling. The Department of
Justice (DOJ) said it intends to appeal.
The pandemic restrictions, known as Title 42, were put in place in March
2020 during the administration of former Republican President Donald
Trump, an immigration hardliner. Health authorities at the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said at the time it was needed
to curb the spread of the coronavirus in crowded border facilities.
Since then, more than a million migrants apprehended at the border have
been rapidly expelled to Mexico or other countries under the order,
often within hours of being caught.
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Judge Summerhays, a Trump appointee, said keeping the Title 42 order in
place "would serve the public interest" and that a nationwide injunction
was necessary given the ability of immigrants crossing the border to
move freely from one state to another.
Democratic President Joe Biden's decision to lift Title 42 has faced
criticism from Republicans and some members of his own party, concerned
that ending the expulsions would push a record number of migrant
crossings even higher.
Medical experts, the United Nations and other Democrats have said the
expulsions put vulnerable migrants in danger and were not based on
science.
The White House said it disagreed with the court's ruling, but would
comply with it pending the DOJ's appeal.
"The authority to set public health policy nationally
should rest with the Centers for Disease Control, not with a single
district court," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in
a statement.
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![](../images/052122pics/news_m21.jpg)
Cuban migrants, who were expelled from the U.S. and sent back to
Mexico under Title 42, walk near the at the Lerdo Stanton
International border bridge, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico May 3, 2022.
REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez
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Last month, the CDC said Title 42 was no longer needed to fight
COVID-19 due to the increased availability of vaccines and other
tools.
But a coalition of two dozen states led by Arizona, Louisiana and
Missouri, all with Republican attorneys general, sued to prevent the
Biden administration from ending the policy.
The judge found the states had a "substantial likelihood of success"
regarding their claim that the CDC failed to take proper regulatory
steps when it moved to terminate Title 42. Arizona Attorney General
Mark Brnovich applauded the ruling as a "significant win."
The decision leaves in limbo thousands of migrants who have been
waiting in Mexican border cities for the order to end so they can
begin the process of seeking asylum in the United States. On Friday,
a group of migrants gathered outside the U.S. consulate in Tijuana
to voice their concerns.
"We're here with our vaccination cards and negative COVID-19 tests
to prove that we don't have this sickness," said Mexican asylum
seeker Juan Carlos Guzman, who said he had fled the violence-torn
state of Guanajuato after an organized crime group assassinated his
son.
Advocates quickly condemned the judge's decision. A separate court
ruling blocks the Biden administration from expelling families to
places where they could be persecuted or tortured.
(Reporting by Kristina Cooke in San Francisco and Mica Rosenberg in
New York; Additional reporting by Ted Hesson and Steve Holland in
Washington and Jorge Nieto in Tijuana; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien
and Daniel Wallis)
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