Judge Emmet Sullivan indicated that the policy was “arbitrary and capricious” and that the Trump administration should have considered other ways of responding to the pandemic. The decision arose from a lawsuit started by the American Civil Liberties Union.
The order permitted immigration authorities to “rapidly expel” foreign nationals who had not established a legal reason to be in the country. According to a monthly report from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), 35 percent of the illegal immigrants apprehended along the southwestern U.S. border were expelled under the Title 42 policy.
The Biden administration tried to end the policy earlier this year but U.S. District Judge Robert Summerhays issued an order preventing it. Summerhays issued a temporary restraining order then a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit initiated by the states of Missouri, Arizona, and Louisiana.
The policy continued while various motions awaited consideration in Summerhays’ courtroom. Hundreds of thousands of people have been expelled from the country using the order.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas had previously defended the Title 42 order as a necessary public health measure.
In September 2021, Sullivan also stopped the federal government from deporting unaccompanied minors using the Title 42 order.
Without the use of Title 42, the U.S. government must handle those who cross the border illegally under the regular immigration laws found in Title 8.
There were more than 2.4 million encounters with illegal aliens along the southwestern U.S. border during Fiscal Year 2022, according to CBP. In Texas border patrol sectors alone, there were 1.5 million encounters.
A copy of Sullivan’s order can be found below.
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Hayden Sparks
Hayden Sparks is a senior reporter for The Texan and a lifelong resident of the Lone Star State. He has coached competitive speech and debate and has been involved in politics since a young age. One of Hayden's favorite quotes is by Sam Houston: "Texas has yet to learn submission to any oppression, come from what source it may."
