Title 42 in place as DHS preps for up to 400k migrant surge

A federal appeals court in Washington ruled last Thursday that the Biden administration can continue to use a Trump-era public health authority to rapidly deport migrant families apprehended at the US-Mexico border.

The ruling puts a hold on a judge’s order that the White House no longer use the COVID-19 pandemic to justify quick expulsions of families under the public health authority, known as Title 42.

The appeals court's decision came hours after Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas had asked top Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials whether they were prepared for up to 400,000 people to try to enter the US in October if Sullivan's order was upheld.

That number would nearly double the 213,534 migrants Customs and Border Protection (CBP) apprehended at the frontier in July, as well as the 208,887 encountered in August.

Those two months marked the first time that more than 200,000 illegal immigrants attempted to cross into the US from Mexico in consecutive months since February and March of 2000.

US District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled Sept. 16 that the White House could no longer use the COVID-19 pandemic to justify quick deportations of families under the public health order, known as Title 42.

Sullivan wrote in his ruling that "in view of the wide availability of testing, vaccines, and other minimization measures, the Court is not convinced that the transmission of COVID-19 during border processing cannot be significantly mitigated."

The Biden administration had appealed the ruling, which went into effect last Thursday.