Southern Poverty Law Center Statement on the U.S. Supreme Court’s Order to Keep Title 42 in Place

WASHINGTON — The Southern Poverty Law Center released the following statement from Rebecca Cassler, senior staff attorney for the Immigrant Justice Project, in response to a decision today by the U.S. Supreme Court to suspend the termination of the Title 42 policy — a Trump-era border policy that was set to end on December 21:

“We are deeply dismayed the U.S. Supreme Court has paused the district court order ending the cruel and unlawful Title 42 policy.  

“The United States and most individual states have lifted nearly all policies and restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, yet COVID-19 continues to be used as a pretext to block access to the asylum process at the border. This is contrary to the United States’ fundamental and decades-old commitment to the rights of people seeking asylum and protection, and it inflates a public perception of a crisis at the border for political ends.  

“Every day that the Title 42 policy is in place has real, life-threatening consequences for people attempting to seek refuge in the U.S. Today’s Supreme Court decision allows those harms to continue. We urge the Court to swiftly change course and permit the policy to end once and for all.”

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