President Biden’s plan to lift the pandemic-related Title 42 immigration rule appears to conflict with his administration’s legal appeal to maintain the …
President Biden’s plan to lift the pandemic-related Title 42 immigration rule appears to conflict with his administration’s legal appeal to maintain the mask mandate on federal transport. Is COVID-19 under control or not? The ending of Title 42, a CDC rule aimed at stopping the spread of COVID from foreign nations, suggests that it is. But the effort to maintain masking in one of the most sanitized environments on the planet indicates it is not. On Thursday, the inconsistency was spotlighted by Biden’s perplexing response to a reporter, suggesting the president thought Title 42 was about the Florida federal judge’s ruling this week blocking the mask mandate. Biden had concluded remarks on aid to Ukraine when a reporter asked, “Are you considering delaying Title 42?” “No, what I’m considering is continuing to hear from my, my — first of all, there’s going to be an appeal by the Justice Department because as a matter of principle, we want to be able to be in a position where if in fact it is strongly concluded by the scientists that we need Title 42, that we be able to do that. But there has been no decision on extending Title 42.” The Justice Department, indeed, has filed a notice of appeal of the ruling on the mask mandate, but there is no indication that the DOJ is taking any action on the administration’s plan to end Title 42 on May 23. Title 42 enables border agents to immediately turn back asylum seekers – the vast majority of whom don’t comply with the legal standard for acceptance – who come from countries afflicted by a communicable disease outbreak, such as COVID-19. More than 1 million people have been turned back under the rule. The White House issued a statement of clarification from Biden to Fox News. “I want to clarify that, in comments at the conclusion of my remarks this morning, I was referring to the CDC’s mask mandate and there is no Department of Justice action on Title 42,” said a clarifying statement from President Biden to Fox News.
