Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON, DC: The United States Supreme Court has temporarily upheld a controversial pandemic-era immigration policy that has been criticised for denying refugees to seek asylum in the country.
In a five-four vote on Tuesday, the court granted a request filed by attorneys of 19 Republican states to keep in place an earlier verdict to invalidate the emergency public health order known as Title 42.
The policy was set to expire in mid of December, leading to fears of a surge in immigration to the US. The states who filed the petition to retain the pandemic-era border curbs have argued that lifting the policy could lead to an increase in already high border crossings and drain resources of the states where migrants end up.
A ruling on the matter is expected by the end of June as the court said it would hear arguments on whether the states could intervene to defend the order in its February session.
The controversial border policy order ‘Title 42’
Enacted in 1944, Title 42 is a rarely-used clause of the US code which allows the government to prohibit foreigners from entering the country if they present a “serious danger” of spreading communicable diseases.
Former President Donald Trump invoked the policy in March 2020 as the US struggled against COVID-19 in the early months of the pandemic. But US officials have used the law to expel about 2.5 million asylum-seekers from entering the country, turning away arrivals at the US-Mexico border in the name of combatting COVID-19. Immigrant rights groups have accused the former president’s administration of using public health as an excuse to achieve Trump’s goal of curbing migration.
The curbs have also been criticised as questionable as an effective measure against the spread of the virus, as US health authorities said last April that the policy was no longer required.
