Wyoming Joins Lawsuit Against Rescinding Title 42

Governor Mark Gordon announced that Wyoming will be joining a lawsuit filed by Arizona, Louisiana, and Missouri challenging an attempt by President Joe Biden to rescind the use of Title 42 at the border.

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Also included in the lawsuit are Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, and West Virginia.

Last fall Gordon visited the southern border and joined 25 other Republican governors in releasing several policies that the Biden Administration could enact to address issues at the southern border including hiring more immigration judges and continuing construction on the border wall.

Those policy suggestions also included the continuation of Title 42 orders, which are used to limit border crossings by immediately expelling anyone who enters the U.S. rather than letting them attempt to enter into the asylum process.

Wyoming is also the only state in the country that doesn't have a refugee resettlement program.

Gordon said:

"The Biden Administration’s continued failure to fulfill its Constitutional duty and secure our border impacts all Americans," Gordon said. "When the federal government does not fulfill its responsibilities, states are compelled to take legal action to protect their residents from the impacts of this border crisis. Wyoming will stand by our fellow states to protect our borders."

Michael Pearlman, communications director for the governor, said in an email that not securing the border would lead to more drug trafficking and human smuggling.

The main argument used in the lawsuit against rescinding Title 42, besides being what the lawsuit calls "unfathomably bad public policy," is that it is done in a way that is contrary to sections of the Administrative Procedures Act that require certain rules to be followed when rescinding an order.

This process involves opening up a period of time for comments and time to respond to those comments and is the reason why several judges have stopped several orders by Biden trying to make changes to rules implemented while Donald Trump was in office.

Encounters with migrants at the U.S. southern border, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, were the highest in 2021 at 1,734,686, up from 977,509 in 2019 and 458,088 in 2020.

A majority of those encounters resulted in the use of Title 42, with 83% of migrants encountered in 2020 turned away using the rule, while 75% were turned away in 2021.