The End Of Title 42 Puts Immigration In A Debate In Congress That Expired On Midnight On Thursday

Immigrants gather at a makeshift camp stranded amongst border walls between the U.S. and Mexico on May 13, 2023 as seen from San Diego, California. Some of the immigrants at the open-air camp have been waiting for days in limbo for a chance to plead for asylum in the U.S. while local volunteer groups are providing food and other necessities. The U.S. government's Covid-era Title 42 policy, which for the past three years had allowed for the quick expulsion of irregular migrants entering the country, expired on the evening of May 11. MARIO TAMA/JNS

The Biden administration had let Title 42 expire as other federal border patrol and law enforcement brace for the worst possibilities.

Title 42 was part of aa provision of the Public Health Service Act of 1944. It was enabled in March 2020 by former President Donald Trump to keep migrants in Mexico at start of the pandemic.