On Thursday (May 11), a federal judge blocked President Joe Biden’s attempt to handle an expected influx of migrants at the Southern border following the expiration of Title 42, a decision the White House claims is sabotage.
U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell blocked the latest Biden administration policy that would have allowed some immigrants to enter the United States without being vetted, with the only requirement being that they show up at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement within 60 days of their entry into the U.S.
The policy was the Biden administration’s strategy to manage an anticipated surge of thousands of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border when Title 42 expires Thursday.
Title 42 was a Trump administration policy allowing the U.S. to turn migrants away under the guise they would be exacerbating the COVID-19 pandemic.
To manage the influx, Biden approved an increase of 1,500 troops to help Border Patrol agents with admin, which skeptics believe is far too few given the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) expects a sharp increase in border crossings, up to 18,000 migrants a day.
Under the Biden administration policy, migrants can be paroled without a court date, allowing them to enter the United States if they make an appointment with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement within 60 days.
Parole would be granted on a case-by-case basis.
But Wetherell — a Trump appointee — blocked the policy on Thursday, asserting it wasn’t any different from another plan the Biden administration policy that was deemed unconstitutional in March.
The previous policy allowed migrants to enter the United States without court dates if they used a mobile app, which eventually gave them a court date.
