EXPLAINER: What Expiration Of Title 42 Means For Immigrants Passing US Border

The administration of former United States (US) President Donald Trump invoked the Title 42 statute in March 2020.
The statute allowed US authorities to swiftly remove migrants crossing the border from Mexico, including asylum seekers.
The administration cited the need to stop the spread of Covid-19 across its borders.

Eko Hot Blog reports that Title 42, a pandemic-era public health statute that restricted immigration to the US, is set to expire.

Some 2.8 million people have been expelled under Title 42 since it was implemented, according to US Customs and Border Protection.

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The statute will expire in the early hours of Friday, at exactly 4:59 am (Nigerian time).

According to CNN, the expiration of the statute will significantly alter several years of US immigration policy.

On Tuesday, President Joe Biden admitted that the border is “going to be chaotic” after the expiration of Title 42.

“It remains to be seen. It’s going to be chaotic for a while,” Biden said.

The change is expected to affect immigrants who cross the US border illegally.

What comes after Title 42? Title 8.

Once Title 42 lifts, the US government will return to a decades-old section of US code known as Title 8.

In contrast to Title 42, which carried almost no legal consequences for migrants crossing, Title 8 provides severe punishments.

US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas recently warned that Title 8 would carry “more severe” consequences for migrants found to be entering the country without a legal basis.

The Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly stressed in recent months that migrants apprehended under Title 8 authority may face a swift deportation process, known as “expedited removal” – and a ban on reentry for at least five years. The department added that those who make subsequent attempts to enter the US could face criminal prosecution.

But the processing time for Title 8 can be lengthy, posing a steep challenge for authorities facing a high number of border arrests. By comparison, the processing time under Title 42 hovered around 30 minutes because migrants could be quickly expelled, whereas under Title 8, the process can take over an hour.

Title 8 allows for migrants to seek asylum, which can be a lengthy and drawn out process that begins with a credible fear screening by asylum officers before migrants’ cases progress through the immigration court system.

Title 8 has continued to be used alongside Title 42 since the latter’s introduction during the Covid-19 pandemic, with more than 1.15 million people apprehended at the southern border under Title 8 in fiscal year 2022, according to US Customs and Border Protection.

More than 1.08 million people were expelled under Title 42 at the southern land border during that same period.

Immigrants at the US-Mexico border (Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images)

The Biden administration has a new border policy

The administration is also rolling out new, strict policy measures following the lifting of Title 42 that will go into effect this week, according to CNN.

That includes putting into place a new asylum rule that will largely bar migrants who passed through another country from seeking asylum in the US.

The rule, proposed earlier this year, will presume migrants are ineligible for asylum in the US if they didn’t first seek refuge in a country they transited through, like Mexico, on the way to the border. Migrants who secure an appointment through the CBP One app will be exempt, according to officials.

If migrants are found ineligible for asylum, they could be removed through the speedy deportation process, known as “expedited removal,” that would bar them from the US for five years.

The administration plans to return Cubans, Venezuelans, Haitians and Nicaraguans to Mexico if they cross the border unlawfully, marking the first time the US has sent non-Mexican nationals back across the border.

The Biden administration also plans to open new migrant processing centres in Colombia and Guatemala in a bid to help reduce undocumented immigration.

Mexico has agreed to continue to accept 30,000 migrants per month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, as long as they come by air.

The US, for its part, has agreed to take up to a total of 100,000 people from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador who have family in the US.