Asylum limits at Southern border to end in late May

Decision expected to draw more migrants to border

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday that it is ending a policy that limited asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The government said it was already making plans to erect tents and take other steps to prepare for an expected influx of migrants.

The continued use of public health powers had been widely criticized by Democrats and immigration advocates as an excuse for the United States to shirk its obligations to provide haven to people fleeing persecution. The policy went into effect under President Donald Trump in March 2020. Since then, migrants trying to enter the U.S. have been expelled more than 1.7 million times.

The policy, known as the Title 42 authority, is named for a 1944 public health law to prevent communicable disease. The termination of the policy takes effect May 23, to give border officials time to prepare. The Associated Press first reported the change earlier this week.

The administration’s decision appeared to be an attempt to strike a balance in a difficult situation: An immediate end to the asylum ban could have sparked a rush on under-staffed border and immigration facilities. Any further delay would have only increased impatience with the government’s reliance on healthrelated authorities meant to combat a virus that is swiftly receding.

The seven-week delay before the policy expires is meant to allow officials to step up staffing at the border. In the interim, nearly all migrants seeking to cross into the U.S. are expected to be turned away under a health authority that U.S. officials acknowledge is “no longer necessary.”

U.S. officials said Friday they had been preparing for months for the eventual expiration of the health-related asylum ban, including plans to vaccinate migrants and improve health and safety conditions along the border. Yet they said they still needed until May 23 to put those plans into place. The CDC order states that the virus is no longer cause for turning away migrants seeking asylum in the U.S.

Republicans hinted at legal action to come. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the actions would “endanger Texans.”

“The state of Texas must take even more unprecedented action to keep our communities safe by using any and all constitutional powers to protect its own territory,” he said.

The federal order says efforts by the Department of Homeland Security to provide vaccines to migrants at the border will step up in the next two months. The government is currently administering up to 2,000 vaccines a day at 11 locations across the border.

The decision is expected to draw more migrants to the U.S.-Mexico border.

AP LESS LIMITS AT THE BORDER: Nicaraguan migrants walk on the US-Mexico border, in Algodones, Baja California, Mexico, in Dec. 2021. The Biden administration has a draft plan to end sweeping asylum limits at the U.S.-Mexico border by May 23, which were put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19, according to people familiar with the plans.