Unaccompanied child migrants trying to enter the United States will no longer be denied a chance to seek asylum under new guidance announced by U.S. health authorities.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in
announcing the change late Friday night, said “that expulsion of unaccompanied
noncitizen children is not warranted to protect the public health.”
The change was announced shortly before a court order was to
take effect that would have allowed the Biden administration to expel
unaccompanied children seeking asylum under Title 42 authority, which was
introduced in March 2020 to prevent spread of COVID-19. The order remains in
place for adults and families traveling with children.
Testing and other preventive measures allow children
traveling alone to be released to sponsors in the United States, the CDC said.
Sponsors are typically family or other close relatives.
A federal judge ruled in a lawsuit by the state of Texas
that the CDC failed to explain why children traveling alone were exempted from
Title 42, and gave the administration a week to appeal. Instead, the CDC lifted
the order — but only for unaccompanied children.
The Associated Press left a phone message with the office of
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and also sent an email. There was no
immediate response.
Migrants have been expelled more than 1.6 million times
under Title 42, named for a 1944 public health law. Biden has kept the order in
place but exempted unaccompanied children during his first days in office.
Prominent Democrats and advocacy groups have been pressing
to end Title 42 for all migrants. “It is not a humane or effective solution to
securing our border,” U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, tweeted on
Friday. -AP
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