Reuters/Aimee Melo
A federal judge in Florida—who happens to be an appointee of former President Donald Trump—temporarily blocked the Biden Administration late Thursday night from carrying out a recently implemented “parole” policy that would allow the temporary release of migrants who have crossed the southern border illegally.
The ruling from U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell stands to inject a healthy dose of chaos into the country’s immigration system just as a COVID-era policy, called Title 42, was set to expire. That expiration date—midnight on Thursday, to be exact—has generated significant controversy as record numbers of migrants from across the world have shown up on America’s borders in the hopes of crossing before Title 42 is nullified.
The policy was originally implemented in 2020 by the Trump Administration on public health grounds, and made it much easier for authorities to turn people away at the border and eject them once inside. Title 42, however, did not include any penalty for repeated attempts.