DHS warns immigrants about Title 42 enforcement and border temperatures
After the Supreme Court temporarily stopped the Trump-era policy’s expiration this week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is now warning immigrants that Title 42 will be enforced by the administration.
As a winter storm moves through Texas, the agency will also warn immigrants about dangerously low temperatures at their border.
“The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) continues to fully enforce our immigration and public health laws at the border,” DHS wrote in a statement Saturday. “Individuals and families attempting to enter without authorization are being expelled, as required by court order under the Title 42 public health authority, or placed into removal proceedings.”
“As temperatures remain dangerously low all along the border, no one should put their lives in the hands of smugglers, or risk life and limb attempting to cross only to be returned,” the agency added.
El Paso, Texas has seen a surge in migrants this month, accompanied by freezing temperatures. This has created a humanitarian crisis. There are many reasons why migrants are arriving in El Paso, including the expiration of Title 42.
Tuesday’s Supreme Court put the brakes on Title 42 will expire on Wednesday, as was originally planned. Trump-era policy allows border officers to refuse asylum seekers because they are concerned about public health.
The bench’s administrative stay came after a federal judge in November struck down the policy. This decision led to 19 Republican state attorneys general. ask the Supreme Court You can leave the policy in place.
Tuesday, the Biden administration requested Chief Justice John Roberts rule against that coalition of GOP-led states, arguing that the public health rationale holding up the policy is not valid anymore.
The DHS on Saturday said regardless of an immigrant’s nationality, “anyone attempting to enter without authorization is subject to expulsion under Title 42.”
“Those who cannot be expelled pursuant to Title 42 may be placed in expedited removal and anyone ordered removed subject to a bar on entry for 5 years under Title 8,” the agency added.
The statement said 23,000 agents and officers are “working to secure” the Southwest border, adding that the U.S. government “continues to work closely with our partners in Mexico to reinforce coordinated enforcement operations to target human smuggling organizations and bring them to justice.”
“That collaboration includes migration checkpoints, additional resources and personnel, joint targeting of human smuggling organizations, and expanded information sharing related to transit nodes, hotels, stash houses, and staging locations,” the agency said.
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