Title 42 expulsion

Title 42 expulsions were removals by the U.S. government of people who had 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. This practice was initially continued by the Biden administration before the program was ended with the end of the COVID-19 national emergency in the United States. Title 42 of the United States Code includes numerous sections dealing with public health, social welfare, and civil rights, but, in the context of immigration, the phrase "Title 42" came to be used to refer specifically to expulsions under section 265.

The program allows the U.S. Border Patrol and U.S. Customs and Border Protection to prohibit the entry of persons who potentially pose a health risk by being subject to previously announced travel restrictions or by unlawfully entering the country to bypass health-screening measures. Its use was implemented under the Trump administration and has continued under the Biden administration to prohibit illegal immigration in the United States. Persons subject to the order are not held in congregate areas for processing and are instead immediately expelled to their country of last transit. If they are unable to be returned to the country of last transit (because that country will not accept them due to their nationality), the Border Patrol will work with its interagency partners to expel the person to their country of origin. Expulsions under Title 42 are not based on immigration status and are tracked separately from immigration. In some cases, this is not possible, and migrants may be expelled to a third country that will accept them based on previous residency. At the discretion of the Presidential administration, Title 42 can be used even for people who would normally have temporary protected status based on their country of origin.

The CDC's policy under Title 42 was unenforceable from November 15, 2022, when D.C. federal judge Emmet G. Sullivan ruled that the policy is a violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, until December 19 when the chief justice of the United States, John Roberts, issued a temporary hold on Sullivan's ruling, followed by the full court in a 5–4 vote on December 27. In the days preceding the policy's repeal on May 11, 2023, the number of migrants crossing the border increased. More than 10,000 illegal border crossers were apprehended daily between May 8 and 9, according to Brandon Judd, president of the Border Patrol union.