TITLE 42: A BARRIER TO ASYLUM-SEEKERS

At the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an order enacting a provision in a public health law known as Title 42, which allows Customs and Border Protection to deny entry to immigrants who potentially pose a health risk, including people who are lawfully seeking asylum. While the practice began under the Trump administration, it has continued under President Joe Biden.

Between October and March, the provision was used to expel 421,527 migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, including 101,897 in March alone.

While the U.S. is expelling lone adults and families under Title 42, the Biden administration is admitting unaccompanied minors as refugees. According to Customs and Border Protection, more than 20,000 immigrant minors are now being held by both that agency and the Health and Human Services Department — an all-time high.

The number of kids leaving the custody of Customs and Border Protection and entering the Health and Human Services Department’s refugee program for minors increased to an average of 507 per day from 276.

Under federal law, unaccompanied children must be transferred from Customs and Border Protection to Health and Human Services within 72 hours. Government data shows, however, that kids are spending an average of over 135 hours in Customs and Border Protection facilities.

In January, U.S. Rep. Yvette Herrell, a Republican from Southern New Mexico, introduced legislation to maintain Title 42 until the public health risk from the coronavirus ends. A handful of sheriffs in her district have publicly endorsed her bill.

“In New Mexico and across the U.S., draconian lockdowns have been imposed in the name of ‘slowing the spread’ of COVID-19,” Herrell said when introducing the bill. “Until the lockdowns and emergency declarations have ended, border health protections must remain in place to prevent the introduction of new cases and new strains of the virus at our borders.”

The Trump administration set the annual cap on refugees accepted into the U.S. at a historically low 15,000 per year. Biden said Friday he would raise the limit sometime in May, although it’s unclear how high. Some Democrats are pushing for at least 62,500.