US Federal Court halted the use of Health Order to Expel Migrant Families

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On Thursday, a US federal judge ruled that the US government must stop using a public health order to quickly expel migrants with children who are apprehended along the US-Mexico border. US District Judge Emmet Sullivan gave 2-weeks to the government to pause a practice. The opponents said it is unnecessary and improperly relies on the threat posed by COVID-19 to deprive people of their right to seek asylum in the United States. Sullivan granted a preliminary injunction in response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of migrant families. The Judge said they were likely to succeed in their challenge to the use of the public health law known as Title 42. The director of the ACLU’s Immigrant’s Rights Projects, Omar Jadwat issued a statement.

Jadwat said, “President Biden should have ended this cruel and lawless policy long ago, and the court was correct to reject it today”. The Biden administration was evaluating the ruling and had no immediate comment on whether it plans to appeal. Point to be noted that Title 42 was invoked early in the pandemic, under President Donald Trump ostensibly to help control the spread of COVID-19 in detention facilities by turning back migrants encountered by the Border Patrol without giving them a chance to seek to stay in the US by asking for asylum or for some other reason. Opponents say there is no legitimate public health basis and no legal authority to deprive people of their right to seek protection in the United States from persecution in their homeland and that it is essentially a cover for a restrictive immigration policy.

The US halted the practice of expelling children crossing by themselves after the election of President Joe Biden. The move came after the reports that they were being sent alone into dangerous Mexican border cities but continued turning away most other migrants. Mexico has started accepting fewer migrant families with children in recent months. The US has been allowing some to stay in the country as they seek to stay. US government invoked Title 42 in August to expel 16,240 people traveling in family groups who were encountered along the southwest border. There were at least 86,000 migrants with minor children encountered along the border. Those who aren’t immediately expelled are subject to U.S. regulations that allow them to pursue legal residency under asylum through the immigration court system.