The expiration of Title 42 took place at 11:59 p.m. ET, which means the Trump-era pandemic public health restrictions have ended.
As a result of Title 42, border authorities were able to quickly turn away migrants at the US-Mexico border, often denying migrants the chance to seek asylum and reducing border processing time dramatically. Although Title 42 had almost no legal consequences for migrants crossing, if they were pushed back, they could try to cross again and again.
The US government will return to Title 8, a decades-old section of the US code that allows migrants to seek asylum once Title 42 is lifted. The asylum process can be lengthy and drawn out, beginning with a credible fear screening by asylum officers before migrants’ cases are heard by immigration courts.