The US Supreme Court on Tuesday left in place a pandemic order allowing officials to quickly expel migrants caught at the border with Mexico.
In a 5-4 vote, the court approved an appeal by 19 Republican state attorneys general to put on hold a judge's ruling to end the emergency order, known as Title 42, while it considered whether they could intervene to challenge the ruling.
The states had argued that lifting the policy could lead to an increase in already-record border crossings.
Chief US Supreme Court Justice John Roberts, a member of the court's 6-3 conservative majority, on December 19 issued a provisional stay maintaining Title 42 while the court considered whether to keep it in place for longer.
Before his order, the policy had been set to expire on December 21.
Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch joined the court's three liberal members — Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson — in dissenting from Monday's order, leaving Title 42 in effect.
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Central American mothers demonstrate in Mexico City to demand justice for their children who have disappeared during their transit through Mexico to the US. EPA -
Migrants from Central and South America seeking asylum in the US camp out as Title 42 border restrictions continue. AFP -
Thousands of migrants arrive in the Mexican city of Tijuana each year. AFP -
Migrant children wait on a road after a caravan from Central America was blocked by Guatemalan authorities. Reuters -
A three-year-old asylum seeker from Honduras holds her mother’s hand after crossing the Rio Grande into the US from Mexico. Reuters -
Migrants await transport after arriving at the border wall in Penitas, Texas. Reuters -
US Border Patrol agents speak to an unaccompanied minor from Honduras after she crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico. Getty / AFP -
Migrant women and children rest at an improvised shelter in Santiago Niltepec, Oaxaca state, Mexico. AFP -
A US Border Patrol officer blocks the path of a migrant trying to return to the US after having crossed into Mexico. Reuters -
The US said it would increase deportation flights for thousands of migrants who entered the Texas border city of Del Rio. AFP -
The US Border Patrol prevents migrants from crossing into Texas from Mexico. AFP -
US Border Patrol officers bar the way to migrants trying to return to the US. Reuters -
US law enforcement officers attempt to close off crossing points along the Rio Grande. AFP -
US authorities attempt to close the border to stop the flow of migrants. AP
Title 42 was implemented in March 2020 under Republican former president Donald Trump at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
US President Joe Biden, a Democrat, kept the restrictions in place for more than a year after taking office in 2021, despite promising to shift away from hard-line immigration policies adopted by Mr Trump.
“To truly fix our broken immigration system, we need Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform measures like the ones President Biden proposed on his first day in office,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
This order “gives Republicans in Congress plenty of time to move past political finger-pointing and join their Democratic colleagues in solving the challenge at our border by passing the comprehensive reform measures and delivering the additional funds for border security that President Biden has requested”, she added.
US Border Patrol agents apprehended a record 2.2 million migrants at the south-west border in the 2022 fiscal year, which ended on September 30.
Almost half of those arrested were quickly expelled under Title 42.
The Biden administration sought to lift Title 42 after health authorities said in April that the order was no longer needed to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
But it was blocked by a federal judge in Louisiana — a Trump appointment — in response to a Republican-led legal challenge.
Meanwhile, a group of asylum-seeking migrants represented by the American Civil Liberties Union sued the government over the policy, saying expulsion to Mexico exposed them to serious harm, such as kidnapping or assault.
In that case, US District Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington sided with the migrants on November 15 and ruled Title 42, which has been used to expel hundreds of thousands of people since its inception, was unlawful.
Mr Sullivan, who was appointed by Democratic former president Bill Clinton, said the government failed to show the risk of migrants spreading Covid-19 was “a real problem”.
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A Honduran migrant boy looks thorugh the fence of a warehouse used as shelter in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, on the border with the US. AFP -
A Border Patrol unit drives near a section of reinforced US-Mexico border fence seen from Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico. AFP -
A dog barks while standing next to the border fence between Mexico and the US. Reuters -
Central American migrants try to cross the Rio Grande, which divides the cities of Eagle Pass, in Texas and Piedras Negras, in Coahuila state, Mexico. AFP -
Members of the Beta group of Mexican National Institute of Migration, dedicated to the protection and defence of human rights of migrants, rescue a Honduran migrant child trying to cross the Rio Grande. AFP -
Honduran migrants try to cross the Rio Grande. AFP -
A family of Central American migrants look through the US-Mexico border fence, as seen from Playas de Tijuana. AFP -
Members of the Beta group of Mexican National Institute of Migration, dedicated to the protection and defense of human rights of migrants, rescue a Central American migrant child and a woman trying to cross the Rio Grande. AFP -
Central American migrants remain at a warehouse used as shelter in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico. AFP -
Central American migrants remain at a warehouse used as shelter in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico. AFP -
Central American migrants pass food through the fence. AFP -
A migrant is held by US border patrol agents after climbing the US side of the Rio Grande. -
A Border Patrol unit remains near a section of reinforced US-Mexico border fence seen from Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico. AFP -
An U.S. Customs and Border Protection van in El Paso. Reuters -
An U.S. Customs and Border Protection van in El Paso. Reuters
He said the government also failed to consider the harm asylum seekers would face from the Title 42 order.
The Biden administration sought time to prepare for the end of the policy, at which point migrants would be allowed to request asylum at the border. Mr Sullivan gave it until December 21.
When a federal appeals court on December 16 declined to allow the 19 Republican attorneys general to intervene and put Mr Sullivan's order on hold, they took the matter to the Supreme Court.
Reuters contributed to this report
