Federal judge blocks Biden from ending COVID border policy
A federal judge has blocked the Biden administration from ending Title 42 — a controversial border policy that has allowed officials to rapidly turn back migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border nearly 2 million times.
Why it matters: The administration had planned to end the policy on Monday. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have decried the end of the policy — implemented as public health initiative under the Trump administration to block migrants from coming during the pandemic — out of concern that ending Title 42 would exacerbate already record numbers at the border.
The big picture: The CDC announced at the start of April the Trump-era border policy would end on May 23, citing declining cases of COVID-19 and improved access to vaccines.
On the other hand, immigration activists and some Democrats have long criticized the Biden administration for using the policy as long as it had and celebrated the CDC's announcement to end it.
