WASHINGTON — The White House said Wednesday it plans to ask a federal court to overturn a judge who ordered the repeal of the Trump-era Title 42 health care policy for immigrants trying to cross the southern border.
The Department of Homeland Security said it will ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia District to overturn a Nov. 15 ruling by U.S. District Judge Emmett Sullivan that struck down the policy as “arbitrary and capricious.”
Section 42, implemented by the Trump administration in March 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, allowed border agents to move immigrants across the border without hearing their asylum claims on health grounds.
The Biden administration forced a halt to the policy for months, only to have a Louisiana federal judge block its initial order to end it in May following a lawsuit from 24 Republican state attorneys general. they warned that 42 titles could lead to an increase in cancellations. migrants occupying immigration resources.
In response to a separate lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of an asylum seeker group, Sullivan gave the Biden administration until Dec. 21 to end Title 42, writing that he did so only “with great reluctance.” “.
In its filing, the Biden administration requested that an appeal of Sullivan’s order be stayed pending a decision by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans on May’s decision in Louisiana and until the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention develops a replacement policy.
“If the government prevails Louisiana petition … Plaintiffs’ objections to the Class 42 order are discussed,” the filing states.
The Biden administration disagreed with Sullivan’s decision and argued that “CDC’s Order 42 was lawful and that this court erred in overturning these agency actions.”
The petition also calls for the Department of Health and Human Services and the CDC to “develop new regulations to revise the scope within which the Director of CDC may exercise his authority … to address the risks posed by future infectious diseases.” showed that he intended to answer.
But in April, the CDC determined that 42 titles were no longer needed because of the pandemic.
“Based on the public health landscape, the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic, and current procedures for the processing of protected non-citizens … CDC has determined that it is no longer necessary to suspend the entry of such protected non-citizens,” The agency reported then.
Title 42 has been used to deport more than 2.4 million immigrants since March 2020.
The ban was implemented unevenly by nationality, mostly affecting immigrants from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, as well as Mexicans, since Mexico allows them to return from the United States. Last month, Mexico began accepting Venezuelans who had been deported from the United States under 42 designations, leading to a sharp drop in the number of Venezuelans seeking asylum at the U.S. border.
The asylum provision has been used by the Biden administration to deport migrant families and single adults, but not children traveling alone.
With post wires
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