Everything You Need to know about Title 42
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In March 2020, during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, then-President Donald Trump dusted off a decades-old public health law known as Title 42 to curb crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border. President Joe Biden continued the policy but now plans to lift it on May 23. There’s concern that an expected migrant surge could cause humanitarian issues.
It’s a provision included in the 1944 Public Health Service Act to permit federal health officials to ban people and goods from entering the country in the case of a pandemic. The notion had been around in varying forms since 1893 until finally being codified.