Appeals court says U.S. can keep expelling migrants under Title 42

WASHINGTON, DC -- The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit put on hold Thursday a lower court order that would have forced the Biden administration to stop expelling migrant families with children at the border under a public health authority linked to the pandemic.

The Biden administration can continue to expel migrant families with children while the case move forwards.

"We are disappointed in the ruling but it is just an initial step in the appellate litigation, and nothing stops the Biden administration from immediately repealing this horrific Trump-era policy," said Lee Gelernt, ACLU lead attorney in the litigation, in a statement.

The public health authority, known as Title 42, was invoked at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and has been criticized by immigrant advocates, attorneys and health experts who argue it has no health basis and puts migrants in harm's way.

The Biden administration had been bracing for a decision from an appeals court on whether migrant families can be subject to Title 42. A federal judge in D.C. blocked the administration from expelling families under the order, but gave the administration 14 days to prepare before it took effect. That deadline was Thursday.

The Justice Department appealed and warned of a surge of migrants at the US-Mexico border in the event that families can't be expelled, saying border facilities are not equipped to handle an influx amid a pandemic