The White House is to end a pair of COVID-19 emergency declarations on May 11, spelling the elimination of the controversial Title 42 restrictions and expulsion measures at the US-Mexico border.
The COVID-19 national emergency and public health emergency are to be extended to that date and then lifted, the administration said on Monday in a statement of policy on bills related to the measures.
It is a milestone in a COVID-19 response that dominated much of the early weeks of US President Joe Biden’s administration. The White House released the statement of administration policy in response to a pair of measures proposed by Republicans in the US House of Representatives that would terminate the emergencies.
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It would also mean the end of Title 42, a border policy that expanded expulsion powers based on the emergency declaration. The measure is to end on May 11 when the emergency underpinning it expires, an administration official said in a written statement.
The US pandemic response has gradually shifted to the background, even as uptake of the latest booster shot remains modest. About 500 people are dying each day from COVID-19, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show.
Title 42 was invoked by the administration of then-US president Donald Trump in 2020 as a means to slow the spread of COVID-19, but then became a flashpoint. Many Republicans supported the public health powers as a de facto border measure, whereas immigration groups had pushed for it to be lifted.
Title 42 has been used more than 2 million times to expel migrants since the spring of 2020, US government data shows.
The US Supreme Court in December last year ruled that it must remain in effect until justices hear arguments on whether to lift it. The end of Title 42 is expected to coincide with an increase in border crossings.
The administration official confirmed that the measure would be lifted when the public health emergency ends on the planned date of May 11.
The administration had said it would would enforce Title 42 while it waited for the outcome of the legal battle, but now is saying it would instead lift it in conjunction with ending the emergency. It was not immediately clear what that would mean for the court case.
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