Judge grants temporary order blocking Biden administration from lifting Title 42 before May 23

The lawsuit was originally filed by Missouri, Louisiana, and Arizona

A federal judge granted a temporary restraining order on Monday blocking the Biden administration from lifting Title 42, a public health order that allows the federal government to quickly expel migrants, until it officially expires next month. 

The Centers for Disease Control announced on April 1 that it would terminate Title 42 on May 23, saying that the order "suspending the right to introduce migrants into the United States is no longer necessary" due to "an increased availability of tools to fight COVID-19." 

The lawsuit was originally filed by Missouri, Louisiana, and Arizona in the U.S. District Court in Louisiana. Several other states have since joined the lawsuit. 

Border Patrol is already not using Title 42 to expel some migrants from the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, instead processing them via Title 8 and expedited removal, Fox News reported last week. 

The border wall near Sasabe, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

U.S. Border Patrol agents capture a migrant near the U.S. and Mexico border fence in Calexico, California, U.S., on Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021.  (Eric Thayer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Migrants climb over a border wall in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on Thursday, April 1, 2021.  (Nicolo Filippo Rosso/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

"We applaud the Court for approving our request for a Temporary Restraining Order to keep Title 42 in place," Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said Monday. "The Biden administration cannot continue in flagrant disregard for existing laws and required administrative procedures."  

58-MEMBER BIPARTISAN HOUSE PROBLEM SOLVERS CAUCUS BACKS BILL TO EXTEND TITLE 42

The Biden administrations' announcement that it would end Title 42 came under fire from Republicans and Democrats alike amid a historic surge in migrant encounters at the southern border, which topped 221,000 in March

In this Wednesday, June 16, 2021, file photo, A Texas Department of Public Safety officer in Del Rio, Texas directs a group of migrants who crossed the border and turned themselves in.  (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

Immigrant men from many countries are taken into custody by U.S. Border Patrol agents at the U.S.-Mexico border on December 07, 2021, in Yuma, Arizona.  (John Moore/Getty Images)

The bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus threw its weight behind a bill last week that would prevent the Biden administration from lifting Title 42 until 60 days after the CDC has formally ended the COVID-19 public health emergency declaration.

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Several Democratic Senators are backing companion legislation in the upper chamber. 

"I warned the administration about this months and months ago, and they still don't have an adequate plan," Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., told Fox News Digital earlier this month. "They say they are working on it. My guess is that we’ll get to May 23, there probably is not going to be an adequate plan in place and, if that's the case, I don't think we should lift Title 42."

Fox News's Adam Shaw and Bill Melugin contributed to this report. 

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