A federal appeals court has ruled that the government cannot use a pandemic public health order to expel migrant families back into countries, particularly Mexico and Central American countries, where they may face persecution or torture.
Back in 2020, President Donald Trump invoked Title 42 of the Public Health Service Act, which gives federal health officials wide discretion to enact disease mitigation measures, to stop asylum-seeking migrants from Mexico or Canada from entering the U.S. under the pretext of stopping the spread of COVID-19. Title 42 allowed Customs and Border Patrol to expel migrants upon arrival. President Joe Biden kept the policy in place after his inauguration in 2021. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other advocacy groups took the Biden administration to court after negotiations to put an immediate halt to Title 42 policy failed.
