The End of Title 42

On Friday, the United States lifted COVID-19 border regulations that had been keeping many migrants from crossing into the United States. The so-called Title 42 order was swiftly replaced with a comprehensive new asylum law designed to discourage unauthorized crossings.

However, a number of last-minute court actions have made it unclear how the new border procedures would operate going forward.

Immigration advocates, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, launched a court challenge against the new asylum limitations just before Title 42 was supposed to expire at midnight on May 11 on the grounds that they break both domestic and international law.

Advocates claim the new rule, implemented by Democratic President Joe Biden to stop illegal crossings, is similar to limits imposed by his Republican predecessor, former President Donald Trump. The same California-based judge was requested to prohibit them by the rights organizations after they successfully challenged the Trump regulations in court.

In a series of interviews with television stations on Friday morning, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas supported the Biden policy, stating that it attempts to encourage immigrants to come via legal methods rather than crossing unlawfully.

He told MSNBC that the transition will be difficult.

Before Title 42 expired and the new law went into force on Thursday, chaotic scenes of refugees frantically trying to enter the nation played out. The law presupposes that most migrants are ineligible for asylum if they entered other countries without first seeking refuge abroad or if they did not follow the legitimate entrance procedures, which Biden has increased.

In recent days, thousands of migrants have crossed rivers, scaled fences, and scrambled up embankments to reach American territory in the hopes of being processed before midnight.

Some immigrants surrendered to border guards. Others attempted to pass undetected.

In chin-high water, on Thursday afternoon, people crossed the Rio Grande River, to get into Brownsville, Texas from Matamoros, Mexico. Some people lifted little babies and sacks of belongings above their heads.

After crossing the border from Juarez, Mexico, hundreds of migrants camped out on the downtown streets of El Paso, Texas, while they tried to decide where to go next.

In San Diego, California, across from Tijuana, Mexico, more migrants — including families with small children covered in Mylar blankets — awaited processing between two enormous border fences.

As COVID ravaged the globe in March 2020, former President Trump began enforcing Title 42. At the time, health officials stated that the order was intended to stop the virus from spreading in congested detention facilities. It enabled American authorities to swiftly deport migrants to Mexico or other nations without giving them the opportunity to apply for asylum in the US.

However, Democrats, public health specialists, and proponents of immigration saw it as a continuation of Trump's effort to stop migrants at the border.

Despite running on a platform of undoing Trump's initiatives, President Biden upheld and eventually extended Title 42.

Although many repeat border crossers are included in the statistics, Title 42 has resulted in the expulsion of migrants more than 2.7 million times.

Mexicans, numerous Central Americans, and more lately immigrants from Venezuela, Cuba, and Haiti have been the only nations that Mexico has allowed to remain in the country. In order to pursue their immigration claims in court, which may take months or years, over 2.8 million migrants who were ineligible for deportation were permitted entry into the US during the same time period under a process known as Title 8.

Biden's administration was dealing with unprecedented numbers of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, straining U.S. authorities and border communities, even before Title 42 expired and the COVID public health emergency ended.

Republicans accuse Biden of relaxing some of Trump's stricter regulations. Biden has accused Congress of failing to pass immigration reform.

However, Mayorkas and other Biden officials have been attempting to deter illegal border crossings with the new asylum law, and by sending soldiers and tens of thousands of more workers to the border.

"Do not believe the lies of smugglers. The border is not open," Mayorkas said in a statement.

Due to the large number of people arriving, officials started releasing some migrants on Wednesday without giving them a notice to appear in immigration court so they could file an asylum claim, instead instructing them to go to an immigration office later. However, a federal judge in Florida barred such releases late on Thursday night, claiming they did not adhere to the correct regulatory processes.

The decision, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, is "harmful" and would "result in unsafe overcrowding" at border facilities.

Mayorkas said to MSNBC. When Border Patrol holding facilities are overcrowded, those who are not removed would be inspected and vetted before being released in advance of judicial procedures, as was the process under prior administrations.

With regard to the Florida decision, Mayorkas stated that the Department of Justice was weighing its options. No one from the Justice Department could be reached for comment right away.