The U.S. Supreme Court halted the expiration of a controversial public health policy yesterday that allowed officials to expedite migrants at the border.
Under Title 42, most immigrants are removed quickly, including those seeking asylum.
Even so, El Paso still prepared for the arrival of hundreds of migrants on Tuesday, despite the fact that the Supreme Court stayed that order that was scheduled to expire on Wednesday.
El Paso authorities scrambled to find more shelter space for the hundreds of migrants who continue to arrive daily. They announced plans to convert a large city-owned building into a shelter. In recent days, about 2,500 people a day have turned themselves in to Border Patrol. Many have been released pending immigration hearings.
Last month, a federal judge voided the policy known as Title 42. Judge Emmet Sulivan had ordered Title 42’s cancellation because it violated the Administrative Procedure Act and called it arbitrary and capricious.
However, on Monday afternoon, Chief Justice John Roberts granted a request to temporarily keep it in effect.
The order came after a coalition of 19 states, including Texas, asked the Supreme Court on Monday to halt the lifting of Title 42.
Monday’s court ruling stated the policy would remain pending further orders from Roberts or the court but did not give a timeframe.
The Biden administration must respond to the order by 4:00 p.m. CST Tuesday.
Jordan Vonderhaar
/
Reuters
Border Patrol officers patrol the Rio Grande on an airboat in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Dec. 19, 2022.
Legal experts contested Title 42’s legality because it deprives migrants of their right to request asylum upon arrival at the border.
In response to the anticipated lifting of Title 42, the Texas National Guard activated and deployed 400 Texas National Guardsmen to the El Paso border area on Monday as part of the Gov Greg Abbott’s enhanced border security effort.
About 5,000 Guardmembers were deployed along the border as of November under Operation Lone Star, Governor Abbott’s border security initiative.
Immigration officials have used the health order more than 2 million times to expel migrants. Many of these migrants have made repeated attempts to enter the US.
In a letter posted on his website today, Governor Greg Abbott demanded that President Biden deploy federal assets to address the border crisis, particularly in the City of El Paso, as a dangerous weather event moves into the state.
The state is bracing for a polar vortex that will cause temperatures to plummet on Thursday night. Lows will be in the 20s Thursday through Saturday.
In his letter, the governor outlined the “acute humanitarian crisis caused by federal inaction to secure America’s southern border.” He said that “migrants are at risk of freezing to death on city streets” and asserted that the need to address the crisis is not the job of border states, but that the U.S. Constitution clearly indicates that the job belongs to the president to “defend the borders” of the country and manage immigration.