Supreme Court leaves Trump-era Title 42 in place, preventing full-blown border crisis while deciding whether states can enforce it

The U.S. Supreme Court this week made the right decision and allowed a Trump-era immigration and border security rule, Title 42, to remain in place while lower courts decide whether states can adopt and continue to enforce it.

The rule was put in place by then-President Donald Trump to give border agents the authority to return anyone who crossed illegally into the U.S. immediately back across the border into Mexico, as the COVID-19 pandemic raged.

The Biden regime has been trying to end the rule since Joe Biden was installed in the White House, but subsequent federal courts have ruled that he does not have the authority to arbitrarily end it without following the law. Now, the nation’s highest court has decided that the rule must remain in place until lower federal courts hash it out. If the high court had allowed the rule to expire, experts predicted that illegal crossings, already at all-time highs, would have more than doubled.

“With President Joe Biden’s clear support, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has called for an end to the border control policy, but the Biden administration has not gone through the legal process to end the CDC measure,” Breitbart News reported following the Supreme Court ruling. “Instead, when leftwing groups sued to end the program, Attorney General Merrick Garland decided not to appeal a lower court ruling against the policy, which would have the effect of ending Title 42.”

“But 19 states filed a motion to intervene in the case, asking the courts to allow the states to step into the shoes of the Biden administration to defend the policy and to issue a stay of a federal trial judge’s ruling declaring Title 42 unlawful,” the outlet continued.

Chief Justice John Roberts referred the issue to the full court, which ruled 5-4 to keep the ruling in place. Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch, Trump’s first high court appointee, sided with the court’s three liberals in dissent, claiming that the court was acting like a legislature and setting policy, which is what Congress and the White House should be doing.

“It is hardly obvious why we should rush in to review a ruling on a motion to intervene in a case concerning emergency decrees that have outlived their shelf life,” he wrote in his dissent, noting that the COVID pandemic is largely over.

“And courts should not be in the business of perpetuating administrative edits designed for one emergency only because elected officials have failed to address a different emergency,” Gorsuch added. “We are a court of law, not policymakers of last resort.”

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary of Public Affairs Marsha (Catron) Espinosa said the Department of Homeland Security would enforce the policy.

“As required by today’s Supreme Court order, the Title 42 public health order will remain in effect, and individuals who attempt to enter the United States unlawfully will continue to be expelled to Mexico or their home country,” she tweeted. “People should not listen to the lies of smugglers who take advantage of vulnerable migrants, putting lives at risk. The border is not open, and we will continue to fully enforce our immigration laws.”

As required by today’s Supreme Court order, the Title 42 public health order will remain in effect and individuals who attempt to enter the United States unlawfully will continue to be expelled to Mexico or their home country.

— Marsha (Catron) Espinosa (@MCatronDHS) December 27, 2022

Most Republicans agree that the pandemic has run its course, but they were nevertheless pleased by the high court’s decision to keep the policy in place pending lower court reviews.

“SCOTUS’s temporary stay of Title 42 protections will forestall a surge of trafficking and drugs. Lives will be saved. Yet as Democrats recently rejected my effort to remedy this situation legislatively, it falls to @POTUS to enforce the laws currently on the books,” Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) tweeted.

“Today, SCOTUS handed Texas and the USA a huge victory by allowing Title 42 to remain in place after Biden illegally tried to terminate this critical policy,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, R., tweeted. “I will continue to fight at every turn and do everything in my power to help secure our border and keep Texans safe.”

“I welcome the Supreme Court’s decision to maintain Title 42, but the status quo is unsustainable,” Rep.-elect Monica De La Cruz, R-Texas., noted as well. “We need a long-term solution to our border crisis that protects American communities, holds the cartels accountable and restores order to the border.”

Sources include:

ConservativeBrief.com

Breitbart.com