The situation on the U.S. southern border remains uncertain

On December 21, Section 42, which was enacted in March 2020, was scheduled to expire. It allowed for the expulsion of migrants back to Mexico and other countries. The order was signed by President Donald Trump, whose administration sought to reduce both legal and illegal immigration. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) supported the White House decision, arguing that the measure was necessary to stop the spread of COVID-19. The day before Section 42 was terminated, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily suspended its repeal at the request of conservative states, requiring the administration to respond to an emergency appeal filed by a group of 19 Republican-led states by 5 p.m.

President Biden had promised during the campaign to change his predecessor’s migrant policy, but Section 42 — remained in effect until a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled. On Nov. 15, the court barred the government from continuing to use the public health emergency, or Section 42, order to remove migrants at the southern border as of Dec. 21. Both a group of Republican states and the White House administration tried to appeal the decision.

Steven Yale-Lohr, a professor of immigration law at Cornell University Law School comments, “Section 42 is an old law that, thanks to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, allowed people to be barred from entering the United States in the event of a public health emergency. And the Trump administration invoked that Section 42 in the midst of the covid pandemic to keep people from entering the country. A judge in Washington, D.C., recently ruled that it was illegal to apply section 42 because we don’t have an ongoing coronavirus emergency. This lawsuit was brought to court by the American Civil Liberties Union and several other non-profit organizations, and then conservative states like Arizona and Louisiana tried to intervene, saying that ending Section 42 would lead to an influx of migrants into their states and it would hurt them.

The court, and now the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, ruled that the states’ attempts to intervene in the dispute were overdue, and dismissed the suit. The Biden administration is ready to overturn the application of Section 42, but they are appealing the federal district court’s decision because if there is a real health emergency in the future, they want to be able to invoke and use Section 42.”

The Border Patrol reported a record number of migrants apprehended crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in 2022.

The mayor of Texas’ border town of El Paso declared a state of emergency over the weekend because of concerns about the city’s ability to handle the expected influx of migrants across the southern border after Dec. 21. This will allow the city to use additional resources.

Oscar Lieser, mayor of El Paso, Texas, said, “We know the influx on Wednesday will be incredible, it will be huge. Talking to some of our federal partners, they think Wednesday’s numbers will go from 2,500 to four or five or maybe 6,000 people. And when I asked if they could handle that kind of flow, the answer was, “No.” When I got that answer, I knew we had to do something, and we have to do it right now.

While authorities in U.S. border regions are preparing for an increased flow of migrants, across the border in Mexico, thousands of people are looking forward to the repeal of Section 42 and the possibility of political asylum in the United States.

Steven Yale-Laure, professor of immigration law, believes that “we need to work with other countries, try to improve other countries’ economies, reduce gang violence so that people don’t feel the need to leave. We also need to reform our own U.S. immigration system so that if people want to come here to work, they can do it legally without trying to enter illegally. The United States has much to do on its own, but much our country has to do in cooperation with other countries. You can’t solve this problem overnight.

You can’t solve it overnight, but you can change course. So Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, whom 19 states turned to after a lower court refused to grant their suit and leave Section 42 in place, issued a decision that requires the Biden administration to keep the border restrictions in place beyond Dec. 21 while the Supreme Court considers whether to grant the states’ request.