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Castro County Healthcare added a great piece of equipment – the Phillips Incisive CT scanner machine. Computed Tomography has revolutionized diagnostic medicine and the advanced x-ray allows doctors and radiologists to view bones, organs, blood vessels and the heart in fine detail. CCH is the third facility in the state of Texas to take delivery of one.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday to extend a temporary stay that Chief Justice John Roberts issued last week to keep pandemicera limits on immigration in place indefinitely.
Under the court’s order, the case will be argued in February and the stay will be maintained until the justices decide the case.
Under the restrictions, officials have expelled asylum-seekers and illegal aliens inside the U.S. and turned away numerous people requesting asylum at the border to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The restrictions are often referred to as Title 42.
Immigration advocates sued to end the use of Title 42, saying the policy goes against the American and international obligations to people fleeing to the U.S and that the policy is outdated as coronavirus treatments improve, though the Biden administration extended the public health emergency in August.
A federal judge in November set a Dec. 21 deadline to end the Title 42 policy, with warnings from states that an increase in migration would take a toll on public services and cause an “unprecedented calamity” the federal government had no plan to deal with. Roberts, who handles emergency matters coming from federal courts in the nation’s capital, issued a stay to give the court time to fully consider both side’s arguments.
The federal government asked the SCOTUS to reject the states’ efforts while also acknowledging that ending the restrictions abruptly would likely lead to “disruption and a temporary increase in unlawful border crossings.”
Since March 2020, migrants have been turned away and “expelled” back to Mexico or their home countries. Over 1.8 million expulsions under Title 42 have been carried out since the pandemic began. However, nearly half of those expulsions were of the same people being apprehended and expelled back to Mexico multiple times. Half of all single adults from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador who have been expelled to Mexico under Title 42 have been apprehended crossing the border again.
The precise issue at hand before the SCOTUS is a largely procedural question of whether the states should be allowed to intervene in the lawsuit preventing the end of restrictions after the CDC announced it was ending the use of the policy. Since the administration has essentially abandoned its defense of the Title 42 policy, states are stepping in; the administration has not tried to keep Title 42 in place as the legal case plays out and the border is being overwhelmed.