The Supreme Court on Monday temporarily kept in place pandemic border restrictions that were set to end Wednesday, after a group of 19 Republican-led states called on the court for emergency relief ahead of an expected surge in border crossings.
A federal court last month had found the policy unlawful and ordered it to end on Dec. 21, and an appeals court on Friday rejected the Biden administration’s ask for more time, setting up for a massive shift at the border in a few days time.
The border town of El Paso declared a state of emergency this week in anticipation of the end of Title 42, the policy first put in place by President Donald Trump in 2020 that has allowed the expulsion of millions of migrants at the border.
In a court filing Monday afternoon, the states called on the Supreme Court to issue a stay – or a temporary pause on the lifting of the policy.
“Failure to grant a stay here will inflict massive irreparable harms on the States, particularly as the States ‘bear many of the consequences of unlawful immigration,’” they wrote in the filing.
The court later Monday granted a temporary stay pending further action, ordering the Biden administration to respond by Tuesday evening.
The White House has in the meantime asked Congress for an extra $3.4 billion to boost resources at the border ahead of the expected surge, said press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Monday, though it’s unlikely congressional Republicans would approve such funding without more security measures.
In the meantime, she said, the Department of Homeland Security has “surged” as much help at the border as possible, including a “historic” 23,000 border agents working there and the addition of 10 temporary processing facilities.
The Biden administration had first moved to end Title 42 themselves in May, before a judge blocked that effort. In the most recent case, the administration instead said they needed more time to prepare for the end of the policy.
Last spring, DHS released a six-part plan outlining its preparations for the end of Title 42, and they released an updated version of that plan this month.
But Jean-Pierre on Monday repeated that congressional funding is critical.
Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas also acknowledged in a statement last week that the “outdated” U.S. immigration system is “under strain” and without congressional action, “a significant increase in migrant encounters will strain our system even further.”
“A real solution can only come from legislation that brings long-overdue and much-needed reform to a fundamentally broken system,” he added.
Yet a draft bipartisan immigration deal floated by North Carolina GOP Sen. Thom Tillis and Democratic Sen. Kyrstin Sinema of Arizona failed to catch on this month.
Once Title 42 ends, Mayorkas said, border agents will process people under Title 8, which allows for “expedited removal” if someone does not qualify for asylum or other entry. Yet Title 8 cannot be applied as broadly as Title 42, which was often used to turn away asylum seekers.
