US court indirectly forces Mexico to receive migrants

Washington. The Supreme Court of the United States blocked yesterday, December 19, the imminent lifting of the sanitary norm, the so-called Title 42, invoked to expel migrants at the border with Mexico.

The president of the court, John Roberts, signed an order that suspends the uprising, scheduled for tomorrow, and therefore maintains Title 42 in force, which allowed the authorities to use the anti-covid-19 protocols to prevent the entry of millions of migrants.

Roberts temporarily suspended the measure inherited from the administration of Republican President Donald Trump, which the Biden administration has continued to apply.

It did so in response to a last-minute petition by 20 states arguing that ending Title 42 would cause a flood of migrants that would overwhelm their services.

They cited the Department of Homeland Security predicting that border crossings by migrants, most of whom are seeking asylum, could triple to 18,000 a day. This increase “will increase the states’ costs of law enforcement, education and health care,” they said.

Last Friday, a Washington appeals court ruled that Title 42, which was enforced in March 2020 in an attempt to curb the coronavirus pandemic, is not justified.

In their petition, the states ask that the Supreme Court take up the case.

Roberts gave the parties 24 hours to respond, so the Biden administration will have to rule. This still leaves open the possibility of Title 42 being suspended this week.