Title 42 is finished.Find out what this has brought and how US immigration policy is changing

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is introducing new restrictions at its southern border to stop immigrants from entering illegally and instead encourage them to apply for asylum online through a new process.

The change comes with the end of coronavirus-induced asylum restrictions that have allowed the United States to quickly turn away migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border for the past three years. These limits are known as Title 42. This is because this power derives from Title 42 of his Public Health Act of 1944, which authorized restrictions on immigration in the name of protecting public health.

Disinformation swirled during the transition and chaos began. Let’s take a look at the new rules (and old rules).

What is Title 42 and what did it do?

Title 42 is the name of the Emergency Health Authority. This is a handover from President Donald Trump’s administration and began in March 2020. The agency has authorized U.S. officials to turn away migrants who have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border, citing the coronavirus pandemic.

Before then, immigrants could enter the country illegally, apply for asylum, and be admitted into the United States, but were then screened and often released until immigration was cleared.

Under Article 42, migrants were deported across the border and denied the right to seek asylum. US officials have denied immigration more than 2.8 million times. Families and children traveling alone were exempt.

But there were no practical consequences for someone crossing the border illegally. As a result, immigrants were able to make multiple attempts to travel to the United States for a chance to enter the United States.

President Joe Biden initially retained Title 42 after taking office, but sought to end its use in 2022. Republicans have sued, claiming the restrictions are necessary for border security. Courts maintained rules. But border restrictions have now been lifted, as the Biden administration announced in January that it would end the nationwide COVID-19 emergency.

Biden said new changes were needed partly because Congress had not passed immigration reform in decades.

What happens next?

Title 42 restrictions were lifted Thursday at 11:59 PM EDT.

The Biden administration has introduced a series of new policies to crack down on illegal crossings. The government said it was trying to stop people from paying for dangerous and often deadly smuggling operations.

Now we are waiting for severe results. Immigrants caught illegally entering the country are not allowed to return home for five years, and if they do return, they may face criminal prosecution.

new asylum rules

Under U.S. and international law, anyone who comes to the U.S. can apply for asylum. People from all over the world come to the US-Mexico border seeking asylum. They are tested to determine if they have a credible fear of persecution in their homeland. Their cases then go to immigration courts to determine their eligibility to stay in the United States, a process that can take years. Usually they are released to the United States to wait for the case to close.

The Biden administration is now denying asylum seekers unless they first sought asylum in the destination country or first applied online. This is a version of the Trump administration’s policy that has been overturned by the courts. Advocacy groups filed lawsuits to block the new rule minutes before it took effect.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco by the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies and other groups, alleges that the Biden administration “further strengthened” policies proposed by President Trump that the court rejected. The Biden administration said the new rules would be significantly different.

Who can enter?

The US has announced that it will accept up to 30,000 people a month from Venezuela, Haiti, Nicaragua and Cuba only if they come by air, are sponsored and apply online. The government will also allow up to 100,000 Guatemalans, El Salvadores and Hondurans with family members from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras to enter the United States if they apply online. Otherwise, border officials will deport Venezuela, Haiti, Nicaragua and Cuba, who will be sent back across the border to Mexico at 30,000 a month.

Other immigrants may also be admitted if they apply through the CBP One app. Currently, he is allowed 740 people per day to use the app, but plans to increase it to 1,000 per day.

What about your family?

Families crossing the border illegally are subject to curfews, and household heads are required to wear surveillance bracelets around their ankles. Immigration officials will decide within 30 days whether the family can stay in the United States or be deported. This process usually takes years.

The Biden administration considered detaining the family until they cleared initial asylum screening, but instead opted for an 11 p.m.-5 a.m. curfew in Baltimore. Chicago; Newark, New Jersey; The same is true in Washington, DC, said a US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information was not intended to be made public. Family members who do not show up for screening interviews are picked up by immigration authorities and deported.

overcrowding

Border Patrol posts are intended to hold migrants temporarily and are not capable of holding large numbers of migrants. Some stations are already crowded. As a result, authorities began releasing immigrants to the United States, ordering them to be deported if they did not appear at the immigration office within 60 days.

Agents were instructed to begin liberating any areas where the containment facility had reached 125% capacity or had an average containment time of over 60 hours. He was also ordered to begin releasing 7,000 migrants a day if they were detained across the border.

It has already happened, with about 10,000 people detained on Tuesday. That could pose a problem for Biden administration officials trying to crack down on immigration.

The state of Florida sued, alleging that the release violated previous court rulings. Late Thursday, a federal judge agreed, at least temporarily suspending the administration’s release plans. In a statement, Customs and Border Protection said it would comply with the court order, but said it was a “harmful ruling that creates dangerous overcrowding and undermines the ability to efficiently process and remove migrants.”

migration hub

U.S. officials plan to open 100 regional migration hubs across the Western Hemisphere where people can seek emigration to other countries, including Canada and Spain.

Hubs will be set up in Colombia and Guatemala, but it’s unclear where the other hubs are or when they will be up and running.

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Associated Press correspondent Rebecca Santana of Washington and Elliot Spagat of San Diego contributed to the report.