the impact of title 42

By Grace Rolman

In the news, Title 42 discussions have been the basis of many immigration talks. The fear that there will be a mass influx of immigrants coming across the United States’ southern border from Mexico if Title 42 is suspended. But what is Title 42?

Title 42 is a section of the U.S. Code used in the Public Health sector. It is rarely used and is in the U.S. Code specifically for communicable diseases to end or restrict access to certain immigration processes, like asylum, within the United States. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) enacted Title 42 in March 2020 during the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States and in the Western Hemisphere in an attempt to reduce the spread of Covid-19. It has been in place since March of 2020, which significantly reduced the number of migrants the United States has allowed across the U.S. - Mexico border.

As a public health measure, many other countries enacted similar policies.

Now, as we look forward to the year 2022, two years into the global pandemic, the United States and the CDC have been able to treat the coronavirus more adequately as well as prevent it through the Covid-19 vaccinations and other measures such as required mask mandates and social distancing.

This has led the Biden administration to encourage the CDC to end or suspend Title 42. The suspension of Title 42 would eliminate the extra restrictions U.S. Border Control had on migrants coming into the United States; however, there are still mandatory restrictions in place on a regular basis.

What once began as a public health issue has now turned into an immigration issue, as misinformation is spreading throughout the nation that an unlimited number of people will be crossing into the United States; however, if Title 42 is suspended or ended, this simply means the coronavirus restrictions on immigration will no longer continue which will signify progress in the public health of our nation. Once the CDC declares Title 42 is no longer necessary, and Covid-19 is not an imminent threat, and immigration may resume at its regular pace, this will be another win in the last two years of fighting this pandemic.

There will be an influx of immigrants into the nation if Title 42 is lifted, just like when any other nation lifts its border restrictions. When border restrictions are lifted due to the safety and well-being of our countries’ residents growing, and the fear for people’s lives continuing to decrease, more people will be able to move into the United States. Currently, a judge has blocked the CDC’s suspension of Title 42, while thousands of migrants are waiting at the U.S. - Mexico border to hear if or when Title 42 will end and be removed.

This influx of migration, if Title 42 is removed, will not only show the U.S. has significantly recovered from the pandemic; however, the suspension or end of Title 42 will be hugely significant to human rights and people being able to access justice that the United States has been offering for decades in the form of asylum. Migrants are waiting at the border without money, food, or water, and are in need of the United States’ typical safe haven policies because where they have come from is unsafe. States like Montana have requested Title 42 be implemented indefinitely as an immigration measure and change its public health policy. By keeping Title 42 in place longer than necessary for the well-being of the public, human rights will be violated as migrants are put at-risk from the conditions they are suffering through for a chance to live in a safer country. People are rushing to the border because they believe they have a chance at a better future; however, by keeping a public health policy in place for racial and immigration purposes, it is discriminating against Latin American migrants seeking safe haven in the United States to be blocked due to a discriminatory policy disguised as a public health policy. Asylum-seekers who are denied entry at the border and turned around are often subject to violence and being robbed of their belongings by drug cartels.

There have been nearly 10,000 reports of violence against migrants under Title 42 due to the tighter restrictions for public health policy reasons; however, without these reasons, the U.S. is condoning violence against asylum-seekers without a fair interview with border agents to see if their stories are credible and then given their year in the United States to prove their case that they the rigid standards of asylum.

Most recently, 50 people were found deceased in Texas due to heat exhaustion as they attempted to cross the border into the United States from Mexico to migrate. Title 42 and the “Remain in Mexico” policies are not only violating basic human rights, but they are now actively killing individuals. If Title 42 were to be suspended by the CDC and the federal judge who blocked the suspension, these individuals seeking protection in the United States would be able to receive medical attention and basic human care; however, due to these policies which at one time were in place for a legitimate issue, are simply in place to continue to discriminate against Brown and LatinX people from entering into the country in a legal way, which is either through claiming asylum through credible fear interviews and still having the United States’ normal stringent policies enacted without the extra diligence that is no longer necessary from the pandemic which is not a current threat to the general population. About twice as many people have died crossing the border than what Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) reported to Congress.

Those traveling to search for safety and denied it at the border and forced to sit in the heat and in unhygienic locations outside the border until there is room based on a weaponized health code is discrimination and persecution against those seeking relief from both discrimination and persecution.

Figure 1: Outcomes of Border Patrol Apprehensions, February 2020 – April 2022

Source: U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Southwest Border Encounters, https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/southwest-land-border-encounters.