Title 42 expired last Thursday, May 11th, at 11:59 pm EDT. As new migrants flooded the US-Mexico border following this development, many questions have been raised about Title 42, its provisions, and the consequences its expiration could have nationally and in the greater Boston area. Here is a look at the new immigration legislation developments.
What was Title 42?
The restrictions known as Title 42 derive their name and authority from Title 42 of a 1944 public health law. The law allowed for the suspension of immigration in order to prevent the spread of communicable diseases from foreign countries. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, in March 2020, U.S. officials began turning asylum seekers away at the southern border in the name of preventing COVID’s spread.
Before Title 42’s enforcement, immigrants fleeing persecution or instability could enter the United States illegally, have their asylum cases screened, and be admitted into the United States as they waited out their immigration cases. Since March 2020, however, over 2.8 million immigrants have been turned away at the border because of the health law.
The rules did not apply to families or children traveling alone. They also carried no consequences and allowed asylum-seekers to continue attempting to enter the United States, even if turned away.
What has Changed?
On May 11, 2023, the Biden administration declared the official end of the COVID-19 public health emergency. Amidst growing opposition to the Title 42 provisions voiced by Elizabeth Warren and a coalition of US senators, Title 42 has expired. Immediately following, the border was overwhelmed with new immigrants and asylum-seekers.
However, Biden’s administration introduced new immigration reforms alongside their termination of Title 42 amid attempts to introduce what they see as “much needed” immigration reform. In effect, Biden has further cracked down on immigration restrictions, introducing strict quotas and requiring asylum seekers to first apply online.
The primary novelty of Biden’s new immigration policy is its introduction of online applications into the immigration process. The U.S. government will now turn away any asylum seeker who doesn’t first seek protection in a country they traveled through, and doesn’t apply online.
The U.S. government has announced it will now accept up to 30,000 people from Venezuela, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Cuba as long as they come by air, have a sponsor, and apply online first. It will now also accept as many as 100,000 asylum seekers from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, given again, that they apply online first.
What does this Mean?
For asylum seekers, particularly those from South and Central America, fleeing humanitarian crises may soon become increasingly difficult. At the same time, many border patrol facilities are ill-equipped to return such volumes of immigrants to their countries and have been forced to release asylum seekers they are holding into the U.S. due to overcrowding.
For Boston and the whole of Massachusetts, the impact remains uncertain. Fear for asylum seekers already residing in Massachusetts is brewing. Consequences at the state level still remain unlikely, though, as Biden’s new restrictions pertain primarily to the situation at the southern border.
Even so, local organizations are bracing for complications.
Workers at a hotel in Taunton say they’re helping roughly 130 migrant families from Haiti.
La Collaboravita, a Chelsea organization that provides social services for immigrants has noted increases in demands for aid in the past few weeks. Its Executive Director, Gladys Vega, says, “I worry a lot because we’re hardly making it as we are now. We need to prepare and we need to prepare for the worst-case scenario.” Situations remain tenuous, and Biden himself has conceded that the border will be “chaotic for a while.”
