Photo: REBECCA NOBLE/AFP/Getty Images
For: EFE Updated Dec 27, 2022, 18:40 pm EST
The Supreme Court of the United States ordered this Tuesday the government of President Joe Biden to keep Title 42 in force in a precautionary mannerthe health regulation approved by the previous administration during the pandemic that continues to allow the immediate expulsion of migrants at the border.
The Supreme Court, in a decision made with the vote of five judges in favor of four against, thus agreed to the request of prosecutors from 19 states to freeze the suspension of Title 42 while the future of this rule is settled in court.
The border between Mexico and the United States continues these days full of migrants waiting for the Supreme Court to resolve, after this Court already issued a precautionary suspension of the lifting of this rule, which was scheduled for December 21.
Now, the Supreme Court maintains the measure indefinitely, at least until after hearing the arguments of the parties in their hearing periodAnd that won’t be until February of next year.
Biden government regrets Supreme Court decision
The White House regretted the decision. Karine Jean Pierre, spokeswoman for the Joe Biden government, said in a statement that the federal Administration will comply with the order, but she asked Congress to approve immigration reform to resolve the border crisis.
“Title 42 is a public health regulation, not an immigration policy, so it should not be maintained indefinitely,” the spokesperson claimed.
Jean Pierre said that The Government will “of course” comply with the order of the Supreme Court, but it will be prepared for an eventual lifting of the regulations during 2023.
“We are making progress in our preparations to manage the border in a safe, orderly and humane manner when Title 42 is finally removed,” he said.
With or without Title 42, the spokeswoman insisted that the solution to the crisis on the border is in the hands of Congress, where the immigration reform proposed by Biden that calls for more funds to reinforce the border remains stalled.
“To really fix our broken immigration system, We need Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform with measures like those proposed by President Biden on his first day in office.”, said.
Jean Pierre stressed that the order of the Supreme Court gives the Republicans, who will assume control of the House of Representatives in January, “a lot of time” to “join” the Democrats and resolve the issue of mirage.
Judge Gorsuch was in favor of ending Title 42
The decision made by the Supreme Court had the vote against the three liberal judges but also a conservative Neil Gorsuchwho understand that this sanitary norm should not continue to be used to control the border.
“The current border crisis is not a COVID crisis. And courts should not perpetuate administrative edicts designed for an emergency just because elected officials have failed to address” a different situation, Justice Gorsuch wrote in a document expressing his disagreement with the decision.
A federal judge had ordered the Biden government to lift Title 42 on December 21, but a group of 19 prosecutors, including that of Texas, raised the issue before the Supreme Court.
The White House had warned migrants that the end of Title 42 would not mean an open door policy and that those who entered the country illegally would continue to be expelled.
Read more:
– Immigration reform was left out of the last legislative plan of the US Congress.
– Title 42, a true “hot potato” and the questions that are impossible not to ask
– Texas government defends cruel sending of migrants to the house of Kamala Harris