Since the Covid-19 pandemic began, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has lifted a broad public health order that has allowed the US to deport more than 1.7 million migrants, overwhelmingly from the southern border.
After reviewing current public health conditions, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky determined the order was no longer necessary, according to agency spokesperson Kristen Nordlund. The order will be lifted on May 23 to give the Department of Homeland Security time to scale up a program to provide vaccinations to migrants crossing into the United States.
The order was first issued by the Trump administration in March 2020 under Title 42 of the Public Health Service Act to prevent the spread of Covid-19 across the country’s land borders with Mexico and Canada.
Human rights organizations, on the other hand, have criticized Title 42 as a blanket deportation policy that denies people the right to seek asylum under US and international law. The Biden administration was responsible for the vast majority of deportations.
As the delta variant spread around the world, the CDC extended the order in August, but made an exception for unaccompanied children. The CDC decided to maintain order in January after the omicron variant caused an unprecedented outbreak of infection.
Title 42 was condemned last year by dozens of leading health experts from across the United States as “discriminatory and unjustifiable” and having “no scientific basis as a public health measure.” They demanded that Walensky and Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra reverse the policy. They argued that by implementing masking and testing, as well as offering vaccination at the border, the US can protect public health and meet its humanitarian obligations.
When Harold Koh, a top State Department lawyer, left the administration in October, he wrote a scathing internal memo criticizing the Biden policy as “inhumane” and “illegal.”
Democrats have repeatedly urged Biden to repeal Title 42, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
As the Department of Homeland Security prepares for a significant increase in border crossings, Republicans and conservative Democrats want the policy to remain in place.
In a letter sent this week, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., asked Walensky to extend Title 42 as the more contagious omicron BA.2 subvariant spreads around the world. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who represents a state that shares a long border with Mexico, also supports maintaining the status quo.
Since the peak of the omicron surge in January, Covid infections and hospitalizations have dropped by more than 90%, prompting the CDC to relax public health measures. This week, the public health agency shut down its cruise ship warning system.
According to the CDC, 97 percent of Americans live in counties where masks are no longer required.
