Cesar Rodriguez | Bloomberg | Getty Images The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will lift a sweeping public health mandate that has allowed the United States to deport more than 1.7 million migrants, mostly across the southern border, since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. In a statement on Friday, the CDC said it would lift the order on May 23 to give the Department of Homeland Security time to step up a program to provide vaccination to immigrants passing through the U.S. CDC. Rochelle Walensky decided that the order was no longer necessary after reviewing current public health conditions, said agency spokeswoman Kristen Nordlund. The Trump administration first enacted the mandate in March 2020 under a public health law known as Title 42 to stop the spread of Covid-19 on the country’s land borders with Mexico and Canada. However, human rights organizations have denounced Title 42 as a general deportation policy that deprives people of the right to apply for asylum in accordance with US and international law. The vast majority of deportations took place during the Biden administration. The CDC under Biden expanded the order in August as the delta variant swept the world, but made an exception for unaccompanied children. In January, the CDC decided to maintain order, as the omicron variant caused an unprecedented wave of infection. Last year, dozens of top health experts from across the United States condemned Title 42 as “biased and unjustified” without “any scientific basis as a public health measure”. They called on Walensky and Health and Human Services Minister Xavier Becerra to cancel the policy. They argued that the United States could maintain public health and fulfill its humanitarian obligations by applying masks and tests and offering border vaccinations. A senior State Department lawyer, Harold Ko, wrote a scathing internal note criticizing Biden’s policy as “inhumane” and “illegal” when he left government in October. Leading Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Sumer, have repeatedly called on Biden to repeal Title 42. Republicans and Conservatives want the policy to remain in place as the Department of Homeland Security prepares for Homeland Security. Senator Joe Manchin, DW.V., asked Walensky in a letter this week to extend Title 42 as the most contagious variant of Omicron BA.2 spreads around the world. Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who shares a long border with Mexico, also supports maintaining order. The CDC is easing public health measures as Covid infections and hospitalizations have plummeted by more than 90% since the peak of short stature growth in January. The public health agency shut down the cruise ship warning system this week. The CDC said on Friday that 97% of people in the US live in holiday homes where they no longer need to wear a mask.
CNBC Health & Science
Read the latest CNBC global coverage of the Covid pandemic:
