Border security hawks cheer justices’ order keeping Title 42 in place

Opponents of mass migration have warned of a record-breaking surge in migrant encounters should the order expire.
Border Patrol
By Ben Whedon

Border state Republicans and illegal immigration opponents are celebrating the Supreme Court’s latest intervention in the southern border crisis. 

The justices on Tuesday delivered a stinging legal defeat to the Biden administration, ruling the Title 42 immigration health security rule should remain in place until they hear arguments in February 2023.

"The States contend that they face an immigration crisis at the border and policymakers have failed to agree on adequate measures to address it," the court wrote. "The only means left to mitigate the crisis, the States suggest, is an order from this Court directing the federal government to continue its COVID-era Title 42 policies as long as possible—at the very least during the pendency of our review. Today, the Court supplies just such an order."

Title 42 is a COVID-19 pandemic-era order that allows for border agents to swiftly deport illegal migrants should they hail from a country known to host a communicable disease such as COVID-19. An estimated 2.5 million migrants have been deported under this order.

Opponents of mass migration have warned of a record-breaking surge in migrant encounters should the order expire. The southern border has already witnessed unprecedented illegal traffic under the Biden administration, with a record 2.4 million illegals arriving in fiscal year 2022 alone. That figure nears 4 million when considering the whole of President Joe Biden's tenure.

Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose state has born the brunt of the migration surge, tweeted that "SCOTUS handed Texas and the USA a huge victory by allowing Title 42 to remain in place after Biden illegally tried to terminate this critical policy."

Arizona Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich, one of the main litigants in the case, celebrated the ruling as a win for his office.

Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee celebrated the ruling, but lamented that Congress did not adopt a proposed amendment to the omnibus spending package it passed last week that would have kept the order in place.

Former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Monica Crowley called the development "positive."

Conservative talk show host Bill O'Reilly lamented that the Biden administration's perceived indifference to the issue had prompted judicial intervention.

Prominent right-wing influencer Rogan O'Handley, meanwhile, offered a somewhat reserved and sarcastic take, acknowledging that the ruling would stem the tide of illegal migration, but was unlikely to fully address the crisis at the southern border.