Title 42 and Post-pandemic Migration Policy in the US

• In Event: The Legal Construction of Time and Terminology in US Migration Policy

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, almost every country adopted international travel measures, including restrictions on entry/exit. The paper focuses on Title 42 – a section of US health law that empowers the US government to temporarily prohibit immigrants, including asylum seekers, from entering the US when this is required in the interest of public health. The paper uses policy analysis to contextualize Title 42 travel restrictions for the U.S.-Mexico border in a previously enacted migration policy framework and to examine how Title 42, in turn, has reshaped the U.S. border policy enacted under the Biden Administration. The paper argues that Title 42 and post-pandemic border policy are parts of multilevel institutional 'layering' - a mechanism that has led to a restrictionist turn in post-pandemic migration policy. Under layering, new policy goals and arrangements do not simply overlie others but interact with each other, leading to large transformations. The paper explains how layering relies on ‘positive’ or ‘self-reinforcing feedback’ received at each stage of policy development.

Author

• Salta Zhumatova, Simon Fraser University