Title 42 Expulsions Made the Border Less Secure
The Trump administration invoked Title 42 in late March 2020. Biden repeatedly extended it. Now, a federal judge has blocked the administration from lifting the order.
When President Joe Biden announced in April that he would not extend a controversial public health order that allowed U.S. immigration officials to expel migrants, many on the right criticized the move as premature or misguided. But the order has actually made the border less secure.
The Public Health Service Act, part of Title 42 of the U.S. Code, authorizes federal officials to control the interstate and international spread of diseases. The Trump administration invoked Title 42 in late March 2020 to keep would-be migrants from crossing into the U.S. from Canada and Mexico, ostensibly to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Biden repeatedly extended the order despite the harm to migrants and objections from U.S. physician groups. A federal judge has now blocked the administration from lifting the order, signaling a potential legal battle ahead.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) invoked Title 42 in nearly 1.8 million migrant encounters between April 2020 and March 2022, amounting to 61 percent of total encounters. Title 42 allowed immediate expulsion and barred affected migrants from applying for asylum.
Although immigration opponents pointed to those numbers as proof of the policy's necessity, the figures were inflated. Because Title 42 is a health measure, immigration officials could not impose reentry penalties on expelled migrants. With no disincentive for reentry, the share of encounters that involved repeat crossers jumped to 27 percent in 2021, nearly four times higher than in 2019.
Excluding repeat crossings, the number of border apprehensions resembled pre-pandemic levels. Border hard-liners ignored that point, pointing to headlines announcing record CBP apprehensions. Meanwhile, most would-be migrants were unable to request asylum at a port of entry, opting instead to congregate at the border. That was the natural result of shutting down more orderly immigration channels.
Smugglers have been among the major beneficiaries of Title 42 expulsions. "It's great for us," one told Reuters, saying he could charge migrants $14,000 for three attempts at crossing into the United States. Reuters also reported that smugglers were saving money because Title 42 expulsions dropped migrants off close to the border rather than sending them back to their home countries. For migrants attempting the journey multiple times, smugglers did not have to pay the cost of transporting them north again.
The Title 42 order has led to more frequent and less predictable migrant inflows. With proper planning, its phaseout could result in more efficient processing at the border. Restoring the asylum-seeking process, coupled with expanding opportunities for temporary work visas and economic migration, could help prevent both harm to migrants and chaotic scenes at the border.
This article originally appeared in print under the headline "The Border Legacy of Title 42 Expulsions."
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post comments
Unlimited migration will also help stop inflation by lowering wages.
I don’t know how it will affect rent though.
#BuildBackBetter
#OpenBorderSociety
I actually have made $18290 within a calendar month via working easy jobs from a laptop…~ni185~As I had lost my last business, I was so upset and thank God I searched this simple job achieving this I’m ready to achieve thousand of dollars just from my home…~ni185~All of you can certainly join this best job and could collect extra money on-line visiting this site.> https://oldprofits.blogspot.com/
Are you in dire need of a career change? Isn’t it frustrating to have to create budgets for everything in life? res1. What if I told that up to $500 can be earned daily without stepping outside of your home, would you be interested? In fact,
.
soft skills supposedly suffice to make:>>>>> https://yourjobs85.blogspot.com/
I love that a ‘bot can realistically solicit another bot.
Title 42 may not have had the effect on slowing down illegal border crossings that supporters wanted, but it seems logical that it did slow down the number who got in and stayed.
Americans want control over crime, homelessness, schools, disease, the cost of gasoline and milk – so why not over immigration? Control implies order, not prohibition.
Fiona… what else happened at this time. Was their direction from Biden for immigration lawyers to start dismissing all immigration cases with coerced prosecutorial discretion?
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/biden-administration-quietly-erasing-immigration-court-caseload-de-facto-amnesty
Everything this administration has done is to encourage more illegal immigration.
Fiona is asleep at the switch. Yet another poor excuse for ‘journalism.’
If Presidemented Biden would keep the Stay in Mexico order in place this would help a bit.
Tough talk, insensitive tweets, and empty threats (what used to be called ‘jawboning’) served Trump well to keep the illegals out.
I actually have made $18k within a calendar month via working easy jobs from a laptop. As I had lost my last business, I was so upset and thank God I searched this simple job (ebt-13) achieving this I’m ready to achieve thousand of dollars just from my home. All of you can certainly join this best job and could collect extra money on-line visiting this site.
>>>>>>>>>> http://dollarspay12.tk
Immigration Barbie is oblivious.
Everything Trump did was good, and everything Biden does is bad. So if Biden continues a Trump policy, the policy was good under Trump but it’s bad now. Or is it? Judging policies by party and person instead of principle is so confusing.
You really can’t help showcasing your idiocy can you?
Not one person here has ever come close to your purported opening strawman.
Nobody is judging policies by party except you and your brain wrecked TDS issues.
If what you say was true then I would see you and your girlfriends being critical of Trump when criticism is due, and giving Biden credit where credit is due.
Because I have seen neither, then that means one of two things. Either Trump is right about everything and Biden is wrong about everything, one hundred percent of the time, or you are judging people not their actions.
And based upon how you have never once addressed what someone actually said, but rather you attack them as a person, I’m going with the latter.
Yup.
The first rule of right-wing Reason commenters is:
It’s Always Team Blue’s Fault
When Team Blue does something bad, it’s because Team Blue is evil.
When Team Blue does something good, actually, it’s not really good, Team Blue has bad motives, so it’s actually something bad.
When Team Red does something good, it’s because they are awesome and yet more proof that we have to vote for Team Red.
When Team Red does something bad, it’s only because Team Blue made them, and so it’s still Team Blue’s fault.
Say something critical about Team Red and “YOU VOTED FOR BIDEN YOU WANTED THIS IT’S YOUR FAULT AAAUUUGHHH!”
Say something critical about both Teams and “BOFF SIDEZ! YOU’RE REALLY ON TEAM BLUE!”
Say something critical about Team Blue and “Good comment! Very thoughtful! +100”
Biden will FINISH section of Trump’s border wall in California and close Friendship Park – one of the only points where separated US and Mexican families can see and touch each other
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10991231/Biden-FINISH-section-Trumps-border-wall-Calif-close-park-separated-families-meet.html
Big this big park where families can talk across the border, and then no door into the park on the American side! Ha ha! Fooled you! You thought you would be able to see your family! Ha ha! Stupid immigrants! Gotcha!
*Build this big park…*
I’m a legal immigrant. For legal immigrants, it’s easy to see their families.
Actually, it’s easy for illegal aliens to see their families too: they can leave the country.
‘…its phaseout could result in more efficient processing at the border..’ If I didn’t know who said that, my first guess would be our V.P., Kamala Harris.
Yet another reminder of how the War on Immigration is a lot like the War on Drugs. Both make taxpayers poorer and criminals richer.
While whittling away at everyone’s rights, dehumanizing people, justifying obscene actions by law enforcement, creating a black market where disputes are settled with violence, and a whole lot more.
But it’s all worth it if one illegal is deported, right?
No reporting here on the legal issues? I’m (just) guessing it’s about a federal regulation that was legally adopted, and whose attempted rescission hasn’t followed similarly legal procedure.
No see issue on Volokh yet either.