"In a lawsuit originally filed by Missouri, Louisiana, and Arizona, our Office just obtained a temporary restraining order to keep Title 42 in place," Schmitt said in a statement on Monday. "This is a huge victory for border security, but the fight continues on."
The attorney generals filed a lawsuit in a federal court in the state of Louisiana in early April to delay President Joe Biden's plan to lift the Title 42 public health policy on May 23.
Title 42 is a public health policy imposed by the Trump administration that has served as a tool to deter the influx flow of illegal immigrants coming to the United States illegally, especially on the US southern border. The policy gives US immigration enforcement the authority to immediately deny entry to undocumented asylum-seeking migrants at the US southern border as part of an effort to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus.
US lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, including Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, have asked Biden to postpone plans to end the policy due to concerns it will extremely overwhelm US immigration resources and create a lasting crisis.
White House Press Secretary said during a press briefing on Monday that Title 42 is not immigration policy, adding that the Biden administration has been preparing over the last several months to deal with the massive amount of migrants expected to come to the United States once the policy is terminated.