The U.S. Supreme Court did the Biden administration a favor when it ruled the White House could continue to use pandemic powers to turn away migrants who might otherwise qualify for entry. The decision makes it easier for the president to keep dawdling over the border crisis.
When the pandemic began, the Trump administration invoked Title 42, an obscure codicil of a 1944 public health law, to expel many of those entering the country illegally under the premise that the rule would help limit the spread of COVID-19. While President Joe Biden attacked Trump’s “inhumane” approach at the border, he has continued and even expanded the policy rather than do the heavy lifting necessary to reach a political compromise on immigration.
The New York Times reports that Title 42 has been used 2.5 million times in the past three years.
