Supreme Court Preserves Title 42 For Latin American Migrants Fleeing Their Countries

The United States Supreme Court has decided to put a temporary hold on Title 42 on Tuesday, keeping the policy intact as the hold order dashed the hopes of many migrants from Latin American countries attempting to seek asylum in the country.

Tuesday’s ruling, where Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts decided to keep the Trump-era policy in place instead of allowing it to expire in December, allowed the policy to remain while the Supreme Court judges decide on whether or not to permanently end it, according to the Associated Press.

Title 42 had allowed immigration authorities to remove migrants and asylum-seekers from the country without offering them protections under U.S. law due to a public health emergency related to COVID-19. Over 2.5 million asylum-seekers were expelled from the country due to this law, NPR reported.

Despite the massive Conservative support behind the law, with at least 19 Republican-led states suing to keep it in place around April 2022, conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch joined the three liberal judges in the dissent for keeping the law, saying that the “current border crisis is not a COVID crisis.”

“[The] courts should not be in the business of perpetuating administrative edicts designed for one emergency only because elected officials have failed to address a different emergency. We are a court of law, not policymakers of last resort,” he said in his dissent.

Many activists and immigrant activists have sued for abolishing this law due to the belief that it goes against international obligations regarding refugees and asylum-seekers, and that the policy is outdated as progress on COVID treatments continue.

“We are deeply disappointed for all the desperate asylum seekers who will continue to suffer because of Title 42, but we will continue fighting to eventually end the policy,” American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Lee Gelernt said.

Migrants from all across Latin America, many of them fleeing from repressive governments and declining economic conditions, had hoped that the abolishment of Title 42 in December would allow them to enter the U.S. to seek asylum in the country. Many of them will now be forced to wait longer as the Court decides on whether or not to make the policy permanent.