US Immigration: What happens when Title 42 is lifted?
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Joe BidenPresident of the United States since 2021
After more than three years, a controversial Trump-era immigration policy known as Title 42 is set to expire on 11 May.
Officials are bracing for an influx of migrants at the US-Mexico border when that happens.
On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden acknowledged that "it's going to be chaotic for a little while" when the policy is lifted.
The policy has long faced fierce criticism from immigration advocates and some Democrats who believed it prevented many asylum seekers from coming into the country.
Republicans have argued that the policy should remain in place to stop illegal border crossings, fuelling an increasingly intense and politicised immigration debate ahead of the 2024 election.
What is Title 42 and why is it ending?
Title 42 dates back to a 1944 law known as the Public Health Act, which granted US authorities emergency powers to prevent the spread of diseases.
The policy came to the forefront of US immigration policy in March 2020, when the Trump administration invoked the statute to stop the spread of Covid-19 across its borders.
With Title 42 in place, US authorities were able to swiftly expel would-be migrants attempting to cross the border from Mexico - including those seeking humanitarian asylum - using the pandemic as justification.
After taking office in January 2021, Mr Biden and his administration kept the policy in place and continued to defend it as a public health measure for more than a year. More than two million people were expelled under Title 42 policy during the 2021-2022 fiscal year, according to data from US Customs and Border Protection.
Citing a diminished public health risk, in April 2022 the US Centres for Disease Control - which oversees US health policy - signalled they would end the policy.
Title 42's end, however, was repeatedly delayed by legal wrangling as Republican-led states sought to keep the policy in place.
But with federally-mandated Covid measures ending on 11 May, officials say the time is finally up for Title 42.
What happens when Title 42 expires?
Across the US-Mexico border, local governments and federal authorities are bracing for an influx of migrants attempting to cross the border illegally.
US officials are reportedly expecting arrivals to rise to more than 10,000 per day in May, up from about 5,000 in March.
Under Title 42, many migrants were blocked from requesting asylum at all. But with it lifted, the US will return to a policy in which migrants are screened to determine the validity of asylum applications and only deported once it is determined they do not qualify.
The US has introduced new measures that would "expedite" asylum interviews, screening applicants within 24 hours and deporting them within days or weeks.
Migrants who are caught crossing illegally and deported will be barred from re-entering the US for at least five years, and will be "presumed ineligible for asylum", according to CBP.
The Biden administration has also tried to create a number of pathways for legal immigration, in the hope of deterring migrants from crossing illegally.
As part of an agreement announced on 2 May, Mexico has agreed to continue to accept 30,000 migrants per month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, four countries that make up a large portion of illegal crossing. The US, for its part, has agreed to take up to a total of 100,000 people from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador who have family in the US.
The US plans to open new migrant processing centres in Colombia and Guatemala in a bid to help reduce undocumented immigration by helping process applications for legal pathways to the US, Canada or Spain. US authorities have said they also plan to go after criminal networks involved in moving migrants, as well as ramp up a public relations campaign aimed at combatting misinformation in source countries.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has warned migrants against coming, blaming the expected uptick of migrant crossings on smugglers "spreading disinformation" and "seeking to take advantage of the change" of the policy change.
On Tuesday, asked if the US was ready for the expected surge, Mr Biden said: "We're doing all we can. The answer is it remains to be seen."
Border security ramps up
To cope with the influx, US officials have announced a number of steps aimed at strengthening border security, including the deployment of 1,500 active-duty troops to help "supplement" CBP and assist with transportation, narcotics detection, data entry and warehouse support.
It's not entirely unusual - the Pentagon has supported the Department of Homeland Security on the southern border for 18 of the last 22 years, and every year since 2006.
But politicians from both sides of the political spectrum have blasted the Biden administration's deployment of troops to the border.
"There is already a humanitarian crisis in the Western Hemisphere," said Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, the chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. "Deploying military personnel only signals that migrants are a threat that require our nation's troops to contain. Nothing could be further from the truth."
On 8 May, Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott announce the unilateral deployment of a "tactical border force" drawn from the state's National Guard. During the announcement, Mr Abbott accused Mr Biden of "putting out the welcome mat" for illegal migrants and of undermining local authorities.
"Joe Biden in his open border policies has hindered our ability to secure the border," he said.
Title 42 and US politics
The issue of immigration is likely to play an important role in the 2024 presidential race, with many Americans expressing concern about the border and US immigration policy.
Former US President and 2024 election contender Donald Trump has touted Title 42 as one of his "most successful policies".
A March poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, for example, found that 4 in 10 Americans believe fewer immigrants and asylum-seekers should be allowed into the country, including about two-thirds of Republicans.
Democrats are split, with 26% backing a decrease and 37% in favour of letting in more asylum-seekers.
Republican lawmakers have also launched a last ditch effort to keep Title 42 in place, arguing that the additional measures taken by CBP are not enough to cope with the flow of migrants at the border.
A separate Senate bill, backed by Arizona Independent Kyrsten Sinema and North Carolina Republican Thom Tillis, would allow for rapid expulsions in a manner similar to Title 42, but without the public-health justification. It would make exemptions for migrants who face persecution back home, or humanitarian reasons on a case-by-case basis.
