Is the end near for Title 42, the pandemic-related order that quickly expels many migrants?

Pressure is intensifying for an end to the pandemic-related health order that has been used more than 1.7 million times to quickly expel migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Immigration advocates, medical groups and prominent Democrats in Congress are among those pushing the Biden administration to lift the public health order known as Title 42. Authorized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, its controversial use began in March 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The CDC has extended its use through at least March.

On Monday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas met with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and his team to hammer out labor and migration issues. Title 42 was among the topics of discussion at the meeting at the National Palace.

The fact that the Mexican president met with the U.S. Homeland Security chief underscored the political prominence of the migration issue for Mexico, a country of 130 million.

“Absolutely, it is an indication of the importance of migration,” said Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, a Mexico-born political scientist at George Mason University. The presence of the secretaries of National Defense and of the Marines signaled that the Mexican government also considered migration a security issue, Correa-Cabrera said.

Also attending the meeting were the Mexican Secretaries of National Defense, Marines, and Foreign Relations, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar and other officials from both governments.

Only a few weeks ago, at the University of Chicago, Roberto Velasco, the head of a North America unit at Mexico’s Foreign Ministry, pushed for more temporary work visas for Mexicans. “We can create more circular mobility migration with temporary worker programs that allow people to come back and forth,” said Velasco, who at the time had expressed some support for Title 42, saying the issue was too “complex” to lift immediately.

Following the Mexico City migration meeting Monday, Velasco said, “Mexico and the US are working together to adapt to the dynamic of irregular migration flows. This includes the evolution of COVID-19, and the implications it could have for Title 42 and repatriation flights, among others. Our objective is to work jointly towards a safe, orderly and regular migration in the region.”

About 60 percent of individuals quickly expelled under Title 42 have been Mexicans, according to CBP statistics. Many migrants have been returned to dangerous Mexico border cities where cartel violence and kidnappings are rampant.

Immigration advocates have criticized Title 42 for depriving people of their rights to due process because those turned away are not allowed access to the immigration courts where many would make cases for asylum.

Many groups have renewed calls to end Title 42 in recent weeks. The nonprofit Doctors Without Borders called on the Biden administration to end Title 42 “immediately.”

“For almost two years under Title 42, the U.S. has used the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to close the border to asylum seekers,” said Avril Benoît, executive director of Doctors Without Borders. “This devastating policy has exposed highly vulnerable people to more violence and danger.”

Senate majority leader Charles Schumer, along with other Democrats, also called for the end of Title 42, noting many migrants seek asylum.

“With vaccines and testing widely available, there is no public health benefit to sending asylum seekers back to harm,” he said in a joint statement with Sens. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Alex Padilla, D-Calif.

Encounters

Title 42 use at the border continues to be heavy, comprising more than half of what federal agents call “encounters” with migrants this fiscal year. Many people turned away under Title 42 then cross again. Through February, in statistics released Tuesday, there have been 839,000 encounters. About 30% of instances involved a migrant who had crossed the border at least once in the last year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said.

At the same pace for the first five months of the fiscal year, it’s likely there will be more encounters at the southwest border than in all of fiscal year 2021. That period saw 1.7 million encounters, resulting in quick expulsions or apprehensions.

A scramble at the Texas border may have already begun. In the Rio Grande Valley, where the most encounters happen, CBP just completed renovation of a processing center in south McAllen. That facility can hold about 1,200 people.

In El Paso, Ruben Garcia, who runs shelters of immigrants at his Annunciation House nonprofit, said he’s bracing for an increase of migrants. In 2018 and 2019, he saw that happen and even sent some migrants to Dallas for shelter and rented hotels in El Paso for additional bedspace. “The situation was overwhelming,” Garcia said.

Meanwhile, in the federal courts, the tussle continues over efforts to shield migrant families and migrant minors traveling alone from Title 42 expulsions into dangerous border cities such as Reynosa, Nuevo Laredo and Matamoros.

Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is up for reelection, continues to fight in court against a federal exemption for migrant minors from the Title 42 expulsions. A federal judge ruled Friday that the Biden administration couldn’t give minors special consideration for an exemption. But late Friday, in an apparent workaround, the CDC issued a separate public health order exempting children.

On Monday, in a Fort Worth federal court, U.S. District Judge Mark T. Pittman said he still had questions about that, and asked for a status report by 5 p.m. on Friday. Friday, both sides proposed to pause the case until March 30 when the CDC is scheduled to give Title 42 another 60-day review.

Ultimately, Title 42 may end simply because its stated purpose and need no longer exist with COVID cases declining and vaccination rates climbing, Correa-Cabrera said.

Even restrictions on foreign travelers ended on Nov. 8 after almost 20 months of COVID-19 imposed bans. Travelers once designated as nonessential, such as tourists, were allowed back into the U.S. via land, air and ferry as long as they are fully vaccinated and had proper documentation to enter the country legally.

This story was updated on Friday, 6:30 p.m. to include the latest in the federal court case in North Texas.