GOP-led states sue Biden administration over lifting Trump-era pandemic restrictions on immigration

Three Republican-led states have filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration after it announced lifting a Trumo- era pandemic restriction on immigration. 

“This suit challenges an imminent, man-made, self-inflicted calamity: the abrupt elimination of the only safety valve preventing this administration’s disastrous border policies from devolving into an unmitigated chaos and catastrophe,” reads the suit, which was filed Sunday by the states of Louisiana, Arizona and Missouri.

Former President Donald Trump had implemented a provision known as Title 42 during the COVID-19 pandemic as a public health precaution. The states accused the administration of violating federal law by issuing the order to revoke the provision.

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The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday that on May 23 it will end Title 42. Immigrant advocates, public health experts and even officials within the Trump administration saw Title 42 merely as one excuse in which the US could stop vulnerable people from seeking asylum.

However, the three states suing the administration claimed that by rescinding the restrictions, it has created the risk of a surge in immigration that has the potential of overwhelming state as well as federal resources. 

“Defendants’ unlawful termination of the Title 42 policy will induce a significant increase of illegal immigration into the United States, with many migrants asserting non-meritorious asylum claims,” the states wrote in their suit.

Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican viewed by many as a potential challenger to Biden in 2024, slammed the decision of lifting the restriction.

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“Joe Biden’s reckless border policies have allowed 2+ million foreigners to enter our country illegally via the southern border. Revoking Title 42 will supercharge the skyrocketing flow of illegal aliens, increasing drug, human and sex trafficking,” DeSantis posted on Twitter. 

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-California, said on Saturday that it was the “worst possible time” to consider eliminating the provision.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, also reacted saying: “Based on what I am being told by officials in South & Central America, I expect Biden’s decision to end Title 42 to lead to the biggest migration crisis in U.S. history.”