No Longer in Effect – Public Health Reassessment and Order Suspending the Right to Introduce Certain Persons from Countries Where a Quarantinable Communicable Disease Exists
By its terms, the Title 42 Order issued in August 2021 terminated upon the expiration of the Secretary of Health and Human Services’ declaration that COVID-19 constitutes a public health emergency. The COVID-19 Public Health Emergency expired at 11:59 pm EDT on May 11, 2023. As a result, CDC’s Title 42 Order also expired. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has announced that they will revert to utilizing Title 8 immigration enforcement authorities.
Background
During the COVID-19 pandemic, CDC issued a series of orders under 42 U.S.C. §§ 265, 268 and 42 C.F.R. § 71.40 suspending the right to introduce certain noncitizens attempting to enter the U.S. from Canada or Mexico (regardless of country of origin) at or between ports of entry. The initial Order Suspending Introduction of Certain Persons from Countries where a Communicable Disease Exists was issued by CDC on March 20, 2020, extended on April 20, 2020, and amended and extended on May 21, 2020. The Order was replaced with the Order Suspending the Right to Introduce Certain Persons from Countries Where a Quarantinable Communicable Disease Exists on October 13, 2020. On February 11, 2021, CDC announced a temporary exception from expulsion for unaccompanied noncitizen children (UC). On July 16, 2021, issued an Order excepting UC from the October 2020 Order. CDC replaced the Order with a Public Health Reassessment and Order Suspending the Right To Introduce Certain Persons From Countries Where a Quarantinable Communicable Disease on August 2, 2021; UC continued to be excepted from application of the Order. CDC permanently terminated the Order with respect to UC on March 11, 2022.
On April 6, 2022, following a public health determination, the CDC Director announced her decision to terminate the August 2021 Order suspending the right to introduce certain persons into the United States. The implementation of the termination of the Order was to take effect on May 23, 2022, to enable the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to implement appropriate COVID-19 mitigation protocols. However, the termination was enjoined by court order before it could take effect. As a result, the Order Suspending the Right to Introduce Certain Persons from Countries Where a Quarantinable Communicable Disease Exists issued on August 2, 2021 remained in effect until the expiration of the COVID-19 public health emergency.
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