What is Title 8, the regulation that will be used after Title 42?

(Trends Wide Spanish) — This Thursday, May 11, the application of Title 42 in the United States comes to an end. This public health policy made it possible to expedite undocumented immigrants in the context of the covid-19 pandemic. The regulations that will come into force as of this Thursday will be Title 8. We will explain what it is about.

Title 8 is decades old. Under this regulation, migrants will face more serious consequences for crossing the border illegally. People who cross the border without first applying for asylum will be removed under that Title 8 authority.

These measures were mentioned by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in a statement posted on its website on May 1. “The Department of Homeland Security has been preparing for the end of the Title 42 public health order for more than a year. In the fall of 2021, DHS began contingency planning efforts that included creating an operational plan and conducting ongoing simulation exercises,” the statement said.

There, they detail some of the measures taken, such as the increase in resources, “including personnel, transportation, medical support, and facilities to support border operations.”

In addition, they highlight that during the first half of fiscal year 2023 they returned “225,483 people, compared to 170,896 during the same period during the previous year,” and expelled “more than 440,000 people under the Title 42 public health order during the same period”.

In this sense, the DHS highlights that, with Title 8, “a person who is expelled is subject to a ban on admission to the United States of at least five years and may face criminal prosecution for any subsequent attempt to cross the border illegally.” . People with final orders of removal will be removed.”

Under Title 8, immigrants who enter the United States illegally can be arrested and processed for expedited removal.

In April of this year, the Biden government announced that it will create regional processing centers in Latin America so that immigrants can apply to enter the United States. The decision was made because an increase in the flow of migrants is expected due to the end of the implementation of Title 42 on May 11.

The centers, which are still being created, will be located in Colombia and Guatemala, two countries through which immigrants often pass on their way to the US-Mexico border, senior government officials told reporters. The possibility of expanding the centers to other countries is being studied.

Fernando del Rincón, Catherine E. Shoichet, Dakin Andone, Rosa Flores, Priscilla Alvarez, Gloria Pazmiño, Samantha Beech, Natasha Bertrand, and Haley Britzky contributed to this report.