Biden overturns Covid special rule with which Trump crosses the border with Mexico

The end of the exemption cannot be delayed any longer – even if President Joe Biden’s administration has used the special Covid rules to fudge the statistics in recent months. As of May 23, the American Border Guard Corps Customs and Border Protection (CBP) can no longer informally expel migrants at the border with Mexico and Canada within a few minutes with reference to “Title 42”. This was announced by the health authority Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“Title 42”: This is the name of the exemption clause of the American federal law that President Donald Trump put into effect at the beginning of the Covid crisis in March 2020 to close the American border. His successor, in office since January 2021, put this special health policy into effect, which was intended to curb the spread of “communicable diseases”. Biden accepted that “Title 42” undermined a pillar of American immigration laws: the principle that a migrant can apply for asylum as soon as he or she sets foot on American soil.

Bureaucratic trick with big consequences

The American authorities have used “Title 42” almost 1.7 million times in the past two years to turn migrants away at the border. The bureaucratic trick helped the immigration authorities to keep the number of people apprehended under control: migrants who were deported to Mexico with the help of “Title 42” had no right of appeal. So they didn’t add to the mountain of pending cases in American immigration courts, which has already grown to more than 1.7 million cases.

In the first six months of the current financial year, which began on October 1, 2021, the Border Patrol is said to have apprehended a million people, according to unofficial figures. Currently, around half of the people apprehended are immediately brought back to Mexico with reference to “Title 42”.

Fear of a sharp increase in migration

The Biden government fears that the number of migrants apprehended will rise sharply from May 23, also because word of the end of the exemption provisions could quickly spread. There is talk of more than half a million people who are said to be staying in northern Mexico, including many war refugees from Ukraine. Speaking to media sources on Friday, a government official conceded that there could be a stampede on the border in the first few weeks after May 23.

For Biden’s political opponents, this is grist to the mill in the 2022 election year. “There’s going to be a deluge on our southern border,” Texas Republican Representative Chip Roy said recently in the House of Representatives. But there are also voices in the Democratic Party that say “Title 42” should have been extended so that the situation at the border does not get completely out of control. Arizona State Sen. Mark Kelly, who is seeking re-election this year, wrote in a statement: “It is unacceptable to complete Title 42 without first implementing a plan to ensure a safe, orderly and humane process at the border. »

However, Biden was under pressure from the left wing of his party, which is concerned that the Democratic president has stuck by President Trump’s misanthropic provisions for so long. MP Pramila Jayapal called “Title 42” in a written statement “cruel and discriminatory”. She was therefore happy about the end of the determination. On the short message service Twitter, MP Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Friday: “Remember: the right to asylum is a right for ALL people.” The New Yorker responded to a statement by Republican Senator Mitt Romney, who described the end of “Title 42” as bad for the country but good for his party.