The U.S. Supreme Court will allow Title 42 to remain in place indefinitely, causing potentially millions of asylum seekers to wait before entering the U.S.
The pandemic-era rule put in place by then-President Donald Trump was intended to stop the spread of COVID-19. In the years since, asylum seekers have generally been required to wait in Mexico.
The Biden administration had planned to end the rule as the U.S. relaxes COVID-19 protocols. But 19 Republican-led attorneys general argued that the order should remain in place.
The Supreme Court ordered in a 5-4 decision to keep the rule in place until a February 2023 hearing. A decision on Title 42 could still take months.
In anticipation of Title 42's end, the Department of Homeland Security deployed additional resources to the border to handle a potential influx of migrants seeking to enter the U.S.
Homeland Security has said it has quickly removed several million asylum seekers due to the rule. If not for the rule, asylum seekers would be allowed to remain in the U.S. until given a court hearing to rule on the merits of their request.
Although five Republicans voted in concert to review the state's case, Justice Neil Gorsuch authored the dissenting opinion.
"The States may question whether the government followed the right administrative steps before issuing this decision (an issue on which I express no view). But they do not seriously dispute that the public-health justification undergirding the Title 42 orders has lapsed," Gorsuch wrote. "And it is hardly obvious why we should rush in to review a ruling on a motion to intervene in a case concerning emergency decrees that have outlived their shelf life."
