The Trump administration is expected to issue a public health order this week, classifying migrants at the US-Mexico border as potential disease risks, marking a significant escalation in efforts to limit immigration, according to three sources familiar with the discussions.
The new health order is a reference to a similar measure implemented in 2020, which was introduced during the coronavirus pandemic. That order effectively closed the border to asylum seekers, drawing sharp criticism from immigration advocates and contributing to repeat border crossings, which in turn sparked pushback from some Homeland Security officials.
Sources say the new order will mention diseases like measles and tuberculosis. It would be the latest in a series of actions aimed at tightening the administration’s stance on immigration, even as border crossings continue to drop.
CNN reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment, but they deferred to the Department of Health and Human Services. Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff and a key architect of the president’s tough immigration policies, has long supported the use of Title 42 — the emergency health authority — to limit immigration.
In 2023, Miller told the New York Times that Trump would likely invoke the authority again, citing concerns over “severe strains of the flu, tuberculosis, scabies, other respiratory illnesses like R.S.V. and so on, or just a general issue of mass migration being a public health threat and conveying a variety of communicable diseases.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is responsible for determining if a communicable disease poses a threat to public health and whether a health order is necessary. The Department of Homeland Security then implements the order.
CDC officials had previously raised concerns about pressure from the White House to issue such orders during the pandemic. While COVID-19 was declared a public health emergency at the time, Title 42 doesn’t require a public health emergency declaration to be invoked.
Some former CDC officials argue that such an order is unnecessary and see it as a way to advance immigration policy under the guise of health concerns.
Currently, the US is facing a measles outbreak in West Texas, with 58 reported cases as of Tuesday. However, it is unclear if the outbreak is connected to the border, where migrant crossings have decreased in recent months.
Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told CNN, “Given what’s happened in Texas, I hope we protect the Mexicans from ourselves.”
The US-Mexico border is already largely closed to asylum seekers through various measures, including Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which grants the president broad authority to restrict border crossings, and the “remain in Mexico” policy, which requires migrants to stay in Mexico during their US immigration court hearings.
“Border arrests are down because we have secured the border,” said former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official Tom Homan in an interview with Fox News. “229 encounters in a 24-hour period, that is a record.”
The invocation of Title 42 would add another barrier for migrants attempting to seek asylum at the southern border.
Originally issued at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Title 42 allowed authorities to quickly turn away migrants, citing the need to prevent the spread of the virus. The order, based on an old public health law, faced strong opposition from immigration advocates and public health experts at the time.
Health experts argued that denying entry based on legal status had no valid public health justification. Despite legal challenges from groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, Title 42 remained in place through the Biden administration until it expired in May 2023. Under Title 42, border authorities expelled nearly 3 million migrants.
One criticism of Title 42, including from some Homeland Security officials, was that the measure lacked significant legal consequences for migrants. As a result, individuals who were turned away could try to cross again multiple times. In contrast, immigration law carries harsher penalties for people crossing the border illegally.
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