Tennessee Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III, along with a coalition of 20 state attorneys general, is joining a federal lawsuit against the Biden administration’s decision to end Title 42, according to a press release by Slatery’s office.
Title 42 is a public health policy that allows border officials to turn away migrants because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The public health order, which permits the immediate expulsion of illegal immigrants who attempt to cross our border, was implemented in March 2020 by the CDC in response to COVID-19. Now, the CDC has announced that it will end the order on May 23rd.
“After considering current public health conditions and an increased availability of tools to fight COVID-19 (such as highly effective vaccines and therapeutics), the CDC Director has determined that an Order suspending the right to introduce migrants into the United States is no longer necessary,” the Centers for Disease Control said in a statement.
The federal lawsuit was originally brought by the states of Louisiana, Arizona and Missouri, but the new amended complaint filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Louisiana adds 18 more states, including Tennessee, as plaintiffs.
The states are asking a federal judge to force the Biden administration to keep Title 42 in place until it conducts the required notice and comment period required under law and adopts a policy that is not arbitrary and capricious.
In the complaint, the states argue the decision from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to revoke Title 42 violates the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) because the Biden administration made the decision without considering states’ interests or input on the matter.
“With the recurring problems at the border you would think the Administration would want as much input from the states as it could get before shutting down a program,” Slatery said in a statement. “But they decided to forego complying with the notice and comment requirements of federal law and shut it down as fast as they could.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “Joe Biden” by U.S. Secretary of Defense. Background Photo “Border Fence” by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Ditto on the above comments!
We seem to have a number of officials that want to appear conservative, but their actions are revealing something different. Just look at the recent “transparency” HB 1201, esp. the Amendment recently added. 501c4 groups are revealing the true facts about what our officials are doing, so they (RINOs) wanted to shut them up . They (certain RINOS in charge of our legislature) rushed to get it passed. They are seeking to HIDE what they are doing–not really interested in transparency.
[…] Original Post by Kaitlin Housler […]
I guess the old saying “better late than never” applies but it sure seems that Slatery is always late on important national issues. Maybe someone – Mr. Lee – needs to wake him up.
I was thinking the same, but I suspect Lee needs a wake up call as well.
Betty – You are sure right on that. I cannot wait to get rid of Lee.