The states in question are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
In court documents, the litigants referenced the federal government’s prior defense of the Title 42 order, and accused the Biden administration of disregarding the correct process for setting new policies.
“Thus, despite defending this lawsuit since January of 2021, the Federal Defendants have shifted course and abandoned their defense of Title 42. In essence, Federal Defendants have circumvented APA notice-and-comment requirements by abandoning defense of Title 42 and instead agreeing with Plaintiffs on a December 21 end date,” the motion reads.
“Because invalidation of the Title 42 Orders will directly harm the States, they now seek to intervene to offer a defense of the Title 42 policy so that its validity can be resolved on the merits, rather than through strategic surrender. This motion is plainly timely because it comes within a week of the Federal Defendants’ volte-face — which made plain that the States’ interests are no longer adequately represented.”
On November 15, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered the Biden administration to end the Title 42 order by December 21. Previously, federal Judge Robert Summerhays in Louisiana prevented the federal government from discontinuing the policy after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced its rescission earlier this year.
Sullivan is the same judge who decided unaccompanied minors cannot legally be deported using Title 42.
Title 42 has been the basis for hundreds of thousands of expulsions since the beginning of the pandemic. The Biden administration began using it to expel Venezuelan nationals in October, to which U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) ascribed a drop in illegal immigration by Venezuelans, who are covered by temporary protected status.
The administration also created an avenue for 24,000 Venezuelan nationals to enter the country if they have a sponsor and meet other criteria.
Opponents of Title 42 contend that it is not based on a legitimate public health concern and is being used to deprive asylum seekers of their rights. Proponents believe it is essential to deterring illegal immigration and keeping illegal crossings at bay.
Border guards arrested illegal aliens 2.38 million times along the southern border from October 2021 through September 2022. In the Big Bend, Del Rio, El Paso, Laredo, and Rio Grande Valley patrol sectors, there were 1.5 million encounters, according to CBP’s operational update for September.
Chris Magnus, the former commissioner of CBP, abruptly resigned earlier this month after facing pressure from Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who reportedly said Magnus would be fired unless he departed CBP.
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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."
