Title 42 Ruling Isn’t Enough To Hold Biden Back
Will the Biden administration abide by a federal court order to keep Title 42 health protocols in force at the southern border? Don’t bet on it.
The day before U.S. District Judge Robert Summerhays’ ruling, U.S. Border Patrol chief Raul Ortiz outlined plans for more releases of illegal aliens into the country. USBP did not retract or modify its guidance after the court extended the Title 42 health order.
In April, 96,908 migrants were expelled at the Texas border under Title 42. That was down from the 109,549 in March, even as the number of encounters increased. Meantime, 110,207 migrants were released into the U.S., 68 percent more than were turned loose in March.
In California, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has been waiving Title 42 rules to allow asylum-seekers to enter the U.S. through the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
While all this is happening, another agency, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is actually requesting fewer detention beds.
Summerhays’ preliminary injunction may prevent the border crisis from becoming exponentially worse, “but it is not a solution to the problem the Biden administration is deliberately inflicting on the American public,” says FAIR President Dan Stein.
Legally speaking, unless the Centers for Diseases Control (CDC) issues an order ending Title 42 expulsions through the proper Administrative Procedure Act (APA)-mandated notice and comment process, any move by the White House to end Title 42 would be “arbitrary and capricious,” in the view of Dale Wilcox, executive director and general counsel at the Immigration Law Reform Institute.
“The administration will likely face continued legal challenges to a move that would cause unprecedented chaos to an already chaotic border,” Wilcox says.
Yet this administration had no compunction about violating APA requirements when it tried, unsuccessfully, to jettison the Remain in Mexico program last summer.
After being ordered to restore the program, the passive-aggressive Department of Homeland Security subsequently reported it was returning an average of just 600 migrants per month. In April, that represented 2.5/100th of 1 percent of encounters at the border. Such is this administration’s idea of “compliance.”
“The ball is now in Congress’ court, which has the power to hold this rogue administration accountable for its ongoing refusal to carry out its constitutional obligation to enforce our nation’s immigration laws,” Stein concluded.