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Supreme Court justices temporarily halt plan to end Title 42 border restrictions

The Supreme Court has temporarily halted plans to lift Title 42. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention protocol blocks almost all asylum at the border on the grounds of protecting public health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The high court has given the federal government until Tuesday to respond to the ruling. 

Hear Lisa Sturgis' interview with host Lauren Gilger On The Show

end-of-title-42-show-lg-20221221.mp3

Title 42 was set to end on Wednesday, after a federal court in D.C. ruled that it was put in place arbitrarily and did not provide public health protection. 

More than a dozen GOP-led states — including Arizona — have sued to keep the protocol in place. State attorneys general part of the coalition argue Title 42 needed not as a public health tool, but as a way to control the number of migrants crossing the border and say letting it expire will bring harm to their states. 

They took their request to the Supreme Court after an appeals court denied an emergency stay request on Friday. 

The high court is expected to release an order on the future of the policy in the coming days.

Alisa Reznick is a senior field correspondent covering stories across southern Arizona and the borderlands for the Tucson bureau of KJZZ's Fronteras Desk.