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(Trends Wide) — The Supreme Court announced Thursday that it has withdrawn from its calendar a case related to the controversial application of Title 42 immigration policy in the Trump era.
The court gave no explanation for its action, but the Biden administration earlier announced that the Covid-19 public health emergency, which serves as the legal underpinning of the program, is scheduled to expire on May 11. So far it is still in force.
Earlier this month, the government told the court that it believes the expiration will nullify the ongoing case.
The Trump administration invoked Title 42 at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The public health authority allows border agents to turn away migrants found at the US-Mexico border in the name of covid-19 prevention.
The oral hearing in the case was scheduled for March 1.
The judges’ decision represents the latest twist in the legal odyssey surrounding the restriction, which has been the subject of ongoing litigation amid efforts to end it.
The US Attorney General, Elizabeth Prelogar, informed the judges earlier this month that, “in the absence of other relevant developments”, she considered that the case before the Supreme Court would be moot once the health emergency expired. on May 11, which would end the application of Title 42.
However, some critics of Title 42 worry that the May 11 deadline itself could be the subject of other legal challenges, leaving Title 42 enforcement in effect for weeks, if not months, longer.
Last year, the Republican-led states, which had already sued in a separate court, asked to intervene in one case, arguing that the program should be left in place. The Supreme Court agreed to leave the program in effect and said it would hear arguments on March 1 on whether GOP-led states can intervene.
The Biden administration first announced it would suspend the public health order last April, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said at the time that the application of Title 42 “was no longer necessary.”
But that effort was blocked by a federal judge in Louisiana, until another federal judge in the District of Columbia ordered an end.
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, who has assumed leadership of the states, declared that “getting rid of Title 42 will recklessly and needlessly put more Americans and migrants at risk by exacerbating the catastrophe unfolding at our southern border.” , adding: “It is estimated that illegal crossings will increase from 7,000 a day to up to 18,000.”
The Biden administration has continued to use Title 42 to return illegal immigrants to the border.
The authority, widely criticized by public health experts and immigrant advocates, has largely banned asylum at the US-Mexico border, an unprecedented departure from traditional protocol. His end could restore access to asylum for arriving immigrants, allowing them to enter the United States and present their case in immigration court.
