Title 42 expiration sparks uncertainty at US-Mexico border.
With the end of Title 42 border restrictions, the Biden administration will revert to processing all migrants under Title 8 of the U.S. Code, which outlines processes for deportation and carries strict penalties, including five- and 10-year bans on reentry for those deported. Title 42, a section of public health law that allowed for fast-track expulsions during the pandemic and carries no such consequences, has been controversial and criticized for violating the rights of migrants to seek asylum on U.S. soil. The Biden administration has been working to speed up Title 8 processes by surging hundreds of asylum officers to the border in an effort to more quickly adjudicate humanitarian claims while applying the consequences Title 42 does not carry.