The US Supreme Court ruled that Article 42 of the Public Health Law enacted by the administration of former President Donald Trump remains in force, invoking health precautions related to combating the Corona virus to prevent hundreds of thousands of immigrants from entering the country, especially at the border with Mexico.
Article 42 of the Health Code allows asylum seekers who illegally cross the southern border to be expelled into Mexico, where they must wait for their applications to be processed.
And the court accepted, by a vote of 5 to 4, a petition from 19 states that said they would see a massive influx of immigrants if “Section 42”, which makes the border with Mexico legal, is revoked.
The court said that the policy introduced under former President Donald Trump will remain in effect, pending its decision in a lawsuit in February challenging a plan to cancel Article 42.
The White House said it would abide by the court's decision, stressing the need for Congress to pass a comprehensive immigration reform law.
My rights violation
The decision to install the procedure known as "Article 42", albeit temporarily, defused a crisis in front of President Joe Biden's administration, with thousands of immigrants gathering at the southern border in the hope of canceling the article and allowing asylum applications to be registered.
US authorities intercepted about 2.5 million people trying to cross the southern border of the United States this year.
In March 2020, the Trump administration activated "Section 42", which allows for health reasons to prevent irregular immigrants who are stopped at land borders from entering the country.
Human rights activists and experts consider the procedure a violation of international law, and consider preventing a potential asylum-seeker from submitting a request in this sense as "inhumane".