Title 42 set to end on May 11

The health policy will expire as President Biden ends the National Public Health Emergency

YUMA, Ariz. (KECY, KYMA) - Title 42 has a new end date, as the Biden Administration is ending the national COVID-19 pandemic emergency on May 11.

Since Title 42 is a health policy used due to the pandemic emergency, it also has to come to an end.

Before its end, migrant crossings have gone down in Yuma, after the administration expanded Title 42 at the beginning of this month to include more countries.

Twitter posts from Yuma’s acting border patrol chief show apprehension numbers in January are the lowest in over a year.

The Biden administration said numbers will likely increase again once Title 42 ends.

And while the policy has been blocked previously immigration policy experts said this is likely the end of the road.

“The expiration date of the public health emergency on May 11, it seems to be more of an air-tight date for it to be terminated than any in the past. The policy expires automatically when the public health emergency goes away,” Aaron Reichlin-Melnick with the American Immigration Council said.

It’s now more difficult for the states to block the new end date in the courts.

And the majority of the states suing to keep Title 42 have ended their own COVID emergencies.

Reichlin-Melnick still expects the states to try and keep the policy after May 11.

“They want the public health emergency to expire, but in so doing Title 42 goes away. How they’re going to thread that needle remains uncertain but we can be sure they’re going to try,” Reichlin-Melnick said.