A Louisiana federal judge, picked by former President Donald Trump, is expected to block Joe Biden’s efforts to abolish the Title 42 public health authority along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The CDC announced earlier this month that the Biden administration would cease Title 42 on May 23. Trump first issued the authorization in 2020, allowing federal immigration officials to swiftly return undocumented immigrants to their country of origin after they had illegally crossed the southern border.
Following the decision, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, and Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich sued the administration, claiming that removing Title 42 will impose an excessive burden on their states and that the process was unlawful.
This week, Judge Robert R. Summerhays ruled on a temporary restraining order that would likely prevent Biden from eliminating Title 42 during the lawsuit’s progress through federal court.
“The court has announced its intention to issue a temporary restraining order in the Missouri, Louisiana, and Arizona v. Biden administration’s planned suspension of Title 42,” Schmitt added in a statement.
“This temporary restraining order is intended to keep Title 42 in place until further court action, a crucial victory for border security and the rule of law,” he concluded.
Landry celebrated the decision, noting that “Biden’s irresponsible move to repeal Title 42 would have flooded our already overwhelmed southern border with illegal immigrants.”
“Thankfully, a court has now granted our request to halt this huge security risk,” Landry said. “We will continue to guarantee that citizenship means something and that people living here illegally are not given more rights than citizens.”
In a statement, Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) President Dan Stein praised the decision, writing that the White House “should see Judge Summerhays’s ruling as a reprieve from a more severe self-inflicted national health and security crisis.” He continued, “The White House should use this opportunity to totally restore Title 42.”
Biden officials confirm that up to half a million border crossers and illicit aliens, the equivalent of Atlanta, Georgia’s resident population, may enter the country every month without Title 42.
