'Stay in Mexico', Title 42, Title 8... what is happening at the border and what Trump measures are still in force?

A federal judge ruled Thursday that the government cannot yet end the

immigration program , the policy launched in 2019 by former President Donald Trump to return asylum seekers to the neighboring country until their cases are resolved. and that Joe Biden has been trying to deactivate since his arrival at the White House in January 2021. The ruling coincides with the end, by order of another judge, of Title 42, another Trump regulation in force since March 2020 that allows the return in the border to the majority of migrants hiding behind the COVID-19 pandemic.

This policy must end on December 21, but I will continue to apply another one, Title 8, which also seriously affects migrants.

What will happen now with Stay in Mexico?

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported on August 8 the formal conclusion of the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), as

is officially known , after the Supreme Court in June endorse Biden's decision to end this program, which has allowed more than 70,000 asylum seekers to be returned to Mexico since 2019.

Biden ordered the end of the program after reaching the White House, claiming it was inhumane because of the violence migrants faced in Mexico, but several lower courts ordered it reinstated in response to a lawsuit from Republicans in Texas and Missouri.

Thus, the program resumed in December 2021, although sending a much smaller number of migrants back to Mexico.

Meanwhile, the Government appealed the judicial decision and finally managed to get the Supreme Court to agree with it.

But it returned to Judge Kacsmaryk (Trump's appointee to the Amarillo, Texas-based court) a fundamental issue: determining whether Biden's decision to end the program was "arbitrary or capricious," thus violating federal regulations, as they denounced. the republican states.

What the judge did this Thursday was to maintain the ban on Biden ending the program until there is a sentence.

The Government can appeal this decision (on which the final decision can again correspond to the Supreme Court), and could also appeal a court ruling against it.

But that will lengthen the final end of

, even the end of Biden's term.

Meanwhile, the Government will be able to send migrants back to Mexico to await the resolution of their cases.

“Anxiety is going to increase and the restrictions are going to continue.

This is a big problem that the Biden Administration is going to have to deal with, apart from everything else that is happening at the border,” immigration attorney Silvia Mintz told Noticias Telemundo.

This is how the southern border of the United States is preparing for the end of Title 42

Dec 16, 202200:29

Will Title 42 end on December 21?

Since March 2020, when Trump approved it at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Title 42 has allowed the government to turn away 2.5 million migrants (although some were able to try more than once) at the border due to the risk that, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) assume for the spread of the disease.

Biden kept the rule in place despite pressure from within the Democratic Party, and despite the fact that the CDC determined in April that it was no longer necessary to stop the coronavirus thanks to the advancement of vaccines.

But the American Civil Liberties Union went to court and on November 15 got a federal judge to strike down the measure.

[The Government announces a pilot test to make changes to the citizenship test]

Federal magistrate Emmet Sullivan, in Washington DC, accepted the Government's request to postpone its end until December 21 to adjust to the possible massive arrival of migrants at the border.

But, in addition, Biden appealed the end of the measure to an appeals court, so he could still hear a court ruling that would maintain Title 42 beyond December 21.

Biden had already tried to kill Title 42 in May, but another federal judge, Robert Summerhays, in Louisiana, stopped him, in response to a lawsuit filed by 15 red states.

On November 22, those states filed a motion with Judge Sullivan to uphold Title 42, so the court battle could escalate again and end up in the Supreme Court as well.

A federal judge in Texas determines that the 'Stay in Mexico' program cannot be dismantled

Dec 16, 202202:07

 And what about Title 8?

Faced with the possible end of Title 42, the Department of Homeland Security stressed this week that it will continue to deport migrants through an existing rule known as Title 8,

that

it allows the expulsion of undocumented immigrants at the border who do not have probable cause for asylum, prohibiting them from returning for five years.

“Title 42 or not, those who cannot establish a legal basis to remain in the United States will be removed,” he said.

Title 8 is not new: it is part of the immigration laws and allows migrants to apply for asylum if they pass the test of credible fear of persecution in their countries for a number of reasons.

What alternatives do those who want to request asylum have before the implementation of Title 8?

Dec 15, 202202:11

More than 2.76 million undocumented migrants crossed the southern border during fiscal year 2022, a number that broke the record reached in 2021 (more than 1 million), according to CBP data.