The Trump Administration To Revive Title 42 To Stop Illegal Immigration

The incoming Trump administration is reportedly gearing up to reinstate a controversial border policy from the pandemic period, known as Title 42, aimed at curbing illegal immigration by citing public health risks, according to fresh reporting.

CBS News broke the story on Sunday, indicating that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is laying the groundwork for this directive.

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who led the Food and Drug Administration under Trump’s first term, weighed in on “Face the Nation” that same day. “If you look purely at tuberculosis and the possibility of it crossing the border, the countries sending immigrants our way do have elevated TB rates, though not dramatically so compared to some other nations,” he explained. “From a strict public health lens, there are likely regions posing a bigger TB transmission threat than our southern border,” he continued.

Axios has reported that Trump’s team intends to bring back Title 42 within the first 100 days of his new term. The outlet described the policy, first enacted during the pandemic, as one that leverages disease prevention to quickly expel migrants at the border, effectively blocking their chance to seek asylum. The policy saw millions of expulsions from the early COVID-19 days until President Biden discontinued it in 2023, Axios noted.

Breitbart News highlighted that reviving Title 42 would bolster the effectiveness of the current, unfinished border wall by enabling border agents to immediately return all apprehended migrants to Mexico.

On Monday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that last weekend marked the lowest number of illegal immigrant apprehensions at the southern border in 15 years. In a Saturday X post, she reported that only 200 individuals were encountered, crediting President Trump and Customs and Border Protection personnel. “CBP recorded just 200 alien encounters at the southern border on Saturday—the smallest single-day total in over 15 years. Grateful for President @realDonaldTrump and the dedication of @CBP’s brave team,” she wrote.

This development comes on the heels of remarks from White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, who last week touted a 95 percent drop in illegal border crossings as of Thursday.