Opinion: To restore public trust, the CDC must stop legitimizing the expulsion of asylum seekers
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has come under fire in past weeks over fumbles in its response to the Omicron surge. As the organization’s leadership works to dig itself out from this blow to its reputation, it must rectify another issue that’s been threatening its legitimacy for almost two years: CDC orders that have justified the baseless expulsions of asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border.
In March 2020, the CDC issued an order invoking two rarely used sections — 265 and 268 — of Title 42 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, which was established in 1944 by the Public Health Service Act. Title 42 grants the government powers to take emergency action to halt the introduction of communicable disease. It’s meant to be used for localized outbreaks, not global pandemics.
