Title 42 Explained: What is Title 42 policy?

Title 42 are removals by the US government of persons who have recently been in a country where a communicable disease was present.

The extent of authority for contagion-related expulsions is set out by law in 42 U.S.C. § 265. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the trump administration used this provision (section 265) to generally block land entry for many migrants.

The program has not been continued by the Biden administration.

What is Title 42 policy?

Title 42 is a public health order that allows Customs and Border Protection to expel migrants to Mexico or back to their home countries to prevent the spread of the virus in holding facilities.

The policy was created under the Trump administration and was issued by the CDC in March 2020, at the start of the pandemic.

More than 1 million people were expelled under Title 42 in the fiscal year 2021. In fiscal year 2022, more than 535,000 people have been expelled from the United States thus far.