President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) is begging the Supreme Court not to end Title 42 — but not for the same reason as many Republicans have been. Rather than wanting to maintain the policy indefinitely in order to stem the flood of illegal aliens, the Biden administration simply wants a few more days to wind down the program.
MORE: DOJ is asking that if the court rules in their favor before 12/23, allowing Title 42 to expire — the government would still like to KEEP Title 42 in place until 11:59PM on the 27th to allow more time to prepare for return to Title 8….
— Jacqui Heinrich (@JacquiHeinrich) December 20, 2022
A coalition of 19 Republican-led states has filed an emergency application to urge the court to keep Title 42 — the Trump-era policy that allows for the quick deportation of illegal aliens at the border — in place, arguing that ending the policy would cause the states “irreparable harm” and impose financial burdens on them from housing the illegal aliens.
The migrant homeless situation on the streets of El Paso has gotten worse as the encampments have grown in size since last week, all the while the status of Title 42 is still up in the air. The temps are expected to drop to the 30's tonight —> https://t.co/zDyeRFsnRm pic.twitter.com/cZwjhE0YQq
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) December 21, 2022
Late Monday afternoon, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts halted a lower court’s decision ordering the Biden administration to lift Title 42 by December 21.
Now, instead of actually trying to keep the policy in place to prevent a flood of illegal aliens from crossing the southern border, the DOJ has asked for a few extra days to end the program.
According to Politico, “In Tuesday’s Supreme Court filing, the Justice Department conceded that the administration expected a temporary increase in border crossings while asking that justices keep Title 42 in place at least until the end of the day on Dec. 27. And if the Supreme Court doesn’t reach a decision until Dec. 23 or later, the administration is asking for two business days to implement new policies.”
While an estimated 2.5 million illegal aliens have been turned back at the U.S.-Mexico border as a result of Title 42, roughly 14,000 migrants are reportedly waiting in Tijuana, Mexico to rush the southern border and enter the U.S. as soon as the policy ends.
Meanwhile, U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar tried to downplay the problem in Tuesday’s court filing — saying that ending Title 42 would “likely” cause a “temporary increase in border crossings,” but claiming that the Biden administration is prepared to implement “new policies to respond to the temporary disruption that will occur whenever the Title 42 orders end.”
“If applicants are dissatisfied with the immigration system Congress has prescribed in Title 8, their remedy is to ask Congress to change the law — not to ask this Court to compel the government to continue relying on an extraordinary and now obsolete public-health measure as de facto immigration policy,” Prelogar wrote.
The case is Arizona v. Mayorkas, No. 22A544 in the Supreme Court.
