White House to comply with Supreme Court immigration order

The White House said on Tuesday it will comply with a US Supreme Court decision that left in place a pandemic-era order allowing US officials to rapidly expel migrants caught at the US-Mexico border, Reuters reported.

“At the same time, we are advancing our preparations to manage the border in a secure, orderly, and humane way when Title 42 eventually lifts and will continue expanding legal pathways for immigration,” White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.

The limits, often referred to as Title 42 in reference to a 1944 public health law, were put in place under then-President Donald Trump at the beginning of the pandemic.

Under the restrictions, officials have expelled asylum-seekers inside the United States 2.5 million times and turned away most people who requested asylum at the border on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19.

Immigration advocates sued to end the policy, saying it goes against American and international obligations to people fleeing to the US to escape persecution.

They’ve also argued that the policy is outdated as coronavirus treatments improve.