Judge Emmet Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia vacated Title 42 on Tuesday. Title 42 is used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to immediately expel illegal immigrants at the southern border back to Mexico before they make an asylum claim. One benefit of Title 42 is that it is a tool to help with overcrowding at the border.

Title 42 was first implemented at the border during the Trump administration at the strong suggestion by the CDC at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. The policy was meant to mitigate the spread of the virus. It was one of many Trump era policies at the border that was working to keep the number of illegal immigrants down to a somewhat manageable level. Joe Biden tried to do away with Title 42, as he has done with all the other border policies from the previous administration. The Biden border crisis is intentional.

There has been one legal battle after another on both the use of Title 42 and the Remain in Mexico policy (officially Migrant Protection Protocols.) The Remain in Mexico policy is gone but Biden has implemented a policy similar to it that immediately expels Venezuelans at the border back to Mexico. Only Venezuelans, as they are the largest group of illegal immigrants in recent months. It does not apply to those crossing the border from countries all around the world.

Title 42 has allowed DHS to expel 2 million people at the border since March 2020 when it was implemented. A federal judge in Louisiana blocked the Biden administration’s legal challenge to Title 42. That was then. This is now. The ACLU applauds the decision.

“Title 42 was a misuse of the public health laws from the beginning and has cause grace harm to tens of thousands of desperate asylum seekers. The practical significance of the ruling cannot be overstated,” Lee Gelernt of the ACLU, one of the lead attorneys on the case to end Title 42, told NBC News on Tuesday.

He added that Sullivan’s ruling essentially overrides the Louisiana court’s decision to stop the Biden administration from ending Title 42.

Sullivan said the rule violates the Administrative Procedures Act and argued that it’s “arbitrary and capricious.” The decision stemmed from a lawsuit brought by a group of asylum-seeking families who fled to the U.S.

Also on Tuesday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott tweeted out that he invoked the Invasion Clauses of the U.S. & Texas Constitutions. It set off a firestorm on social media, with the open borders crowd calling him an authoritarian for trying to secure the Texas border, and border hawks applauding him. But did Abbott really do what it looks like he did?

I invoked the Invasion Clauses of the U.S. & Texas Constitutions to fully authorize Texas to take unprecedented measures to defend our state against an invasion.

I’m using that constitutional authority, & other authorization & Executive Orders to keep our state & country safe:

I invoked the Invasion Clauses of the U.S. & Texas Constitutions to fully authorize Texas to take unprecedented measures to defend our state against an invasion.

I'm using that constitutional authority, & other authorization & Executive Orders to keep our state & country safe: pic.twitter.com/2Jt5HEMgp5

— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) November 15, 2022

You’ll notice in that tweet that Abbott lists several actions that will be taken. Abbott’s tweet was a reference to a July executive order. His staff had to jump in and clear up the confusion. It was not a new policy being implemented by the governor.

In a missive that had been retweeted more than 9,000 times by Tuesday afternoon, Abbott said he had ordered National Guard members to “repel & turn back immigrants trying to cross the border illegally,” giving hope to conservatives who have urged him to start expelling migrants from the country instead of turning them over to federal authorities.

But the tweet was merely a reference to Abbott’s July executive order authorizing state law enforcement to return migrants suspected of entering the country illegally to southern ports of entry — a step criticized by conservatives at the time as insufficient. Asked about the tweet while testifying before a panel of state lawmakers, Abbott’s budget director, Sarah Hicks, made clear the governor was not announcing any new policy.

“I think that what he’s talking about and what he is issuing is a reiteration of all the positions that he has taken,” Hicks said. “I don’t think it is a change in overall tactic as much as it is a reminder to all of us, to Congress, and to the members working the issue, that this is serious and it demands a full and serious response.”

Abbott did send a letter to Texas border county officials on Monday.

In a letter sent Monday to Texas county officials along the southern border, some of whom have pushed for the state “invasion” declaration, Abbott said he wants Congress to “amend statutes like 18 U.S.C. § 242 to ensure that our Troopers and Guardsmen are not exposed to federal criminal prosecution for protecting Texas against illegal entry between the ports of entry.”

He also called for Congress to reimburse Texas for “the billions of dollars we have had to spend on border security in the Biden Administration’s absence.” Texas lawmakers have approved more than $4 billion to support Operation Lone Star.

Governor Abbott is doing all he is legally allowed to do to deal with illegal immigration in Texas. Critics on the right say he should be sending illegal immigrants back into Mexico instead of just sending them back to the border but deportation is a federal responsibility, not a state responsibility. The Biden administration expects border states to take care of the crisis on their own, which is a dereliction of Biden’s duty.

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