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CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico/WASHINGTON, Dec 20 (Reuters) – When Vladimir Castellanos learned that COVID-19 restrictions preventing him and other migrants from seeking asylum at the U.S. border with Mexico could not be lifted this week, he said he felt cheated.

Castellanos and his brother are Venezuelans, and they were among dozens of migrants gathered on both sides of the Rio Grande Monday night in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and El Paso, Texas, some lighting small fires to keep warm as temperatures were dropping towards the freezing point. .

They had traveled there in anticipation of the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, known as Title 42, on Wednesday as ordered by a US court. Title 42 allows US authorities to quickly deport migrants to Mexico and other countries without the ability to seek asylum in the United States.

But in a last-minute move, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday allowed Title 42 to temporarily remain in place while a legal challenge by Republican state attorneys general seeking to expand the measures is decided.

President Joe Biden’s administration on Tuesday asked the court to let asylum restrictions end. But citing the holiday season and logistical issues sparked by Monday’s order, he asked the court to leave the policy in place until after Dec. 1. 27.

“I take it as a joke, to give us hope and then, like a child, trick us and tell us they’re going to postpone,” Castellanos said, adding that it was unfair that migrants from other countries can enter the United States. while Venezuelans were banned.

Under Title 42, the United States can generally only deport migrants from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Venezuela to Mexico. Mexico will not accept Nicaraguans, for example, or migrants from certain South American countries, who have generally been allowed to enter the United States to pursue their immigration cases.

Since Biden took office in January 2021, about half of the record 4 million migrants encountered at the US-Mexico border have been deported under Title 42 while the other half have been allowed into the country.

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The increase in the number of people crossing the border has overwhelmed some border communities. The city of El Paso, Texas declared a state of emergency over the weekend as hundreds of migrants took to the streets.

The migrants interviewed by Reuters were a handful of the estimated tens of thousands waiting on the Mexican side of the border for a chance to cross.

Early Tuesday, dozens of Texas National Guard troops in camouflage uniforms and helmets fanned out across the Ciudad Juarez-El Paso border in armored cars. Troops, part of a larger deployment of 400 people, unrolled long lengths of concertina wire to create a barrier along the river.

Title 42 was originally released in March 2020 under former Republican President Donald Trump at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The administration of Biden, a Democrat, left it in place for more than a year and expanded it in October to include Venezuelans in deportations to Mexico while also allowing up to 24,000 Venezuelans to leave. enter the United States by air if applying from abroad.

Still, the Biden administration says it wants Title 42 to end after U.S. health officials said in April the order was no longer needed to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

A federal judge ruled in November that Title 42 was illegal and ordered it lifted on December 12. 21, siding with migrant asylum seekers who have sued the government over this policy.

But a group of 19 states with Republican attorneys general launched a legal challenge to keep Title 42 in place seeking to intervene in the lawsuit. The U.S. Supreme Court said on Monday that the restrictions may remain in place temporarily to give parties to the case time to respond to Republican demand.

The Biden administration said Tuesday it plans to “expand resources” at the border and use existing legal authorities “to implement new policies in response to the temporary disruption likely to occur at the end of 42” title controls.

The Supreme Court will now decide whether or not to halt the policy while the states legal challenge unfolds.

Some Venezuelans on the Mexican side of the border still held out hope for change.

“I can’t give up so easily,” said Alexis Farfan, a 26-year-old migrant from Venezuela, who has been staying at an LGBTQI+ shelter in Tijuana since being deported from the United States earlier this month. “I trust in God that I will make it to the other side.”

Reporting by Jose Luis Gonzalez in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico and Ted Hesson in Washington; Additional reporting by Jackie Botts in Oaxaca City, Mexico and Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Mica Rosenberg and Aurora Ellis

Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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