Kanishka Singh

(Reuters) – The U.S. president Joe Biden’s administration has relaxed a controversial policy on border security that was implemented under former President Donald Trump. This means that children who are not accompanied by their parents will be allowed to remain in the United States.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), announced that the director of the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ) has terminated with respect to unaccompanied children an order under Title 42 suspending certain rights to enter the United States.

“In effect, this means that unaccompanied noncitizen children will not be expelled from the United States under CDC’s order.”

Title 42 was issued in March 2020 by the CDC at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. It allowed U.S authorities to quickly expel migrant family members who crossed the U.S.–Mexico border and were not permitted to seek asylum in the United States.

Although the policy was in place since it became effective, over 1.6 million migrants have been refused entry to this country. Some of these were individuals who had crossed several times.

Rochelle Wilensky from CDC cited in a 21-page document the recent decline in COVID-19 rates nationwide, and an increase in vaccination rates both in the United States as well in countries where migrants have crossed to southern borders.

Biden had exempted children unaccompanied from expulsion policies early in his presidency. However, a Texas federal judge ruled that the minors couldn’t be exempted in an anti-administration case.

This Texas decision, which contradicts a U.S. District Court order from 2020 that blocked expulsions for unaccompanied children in Texas, is putting pressure on the administration, who are now considering whether or not to reverse the order.