Here’s what you need to know about Title 42, the pandemic-era policy that quickly sends migrants to Mexico

For more than three years, the federal government has turned away migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, including those who are seeking asylum, using a public emergency health order known as Title 42. It was launched by the Trump administration at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and continued under the Biden administration.

Title 42 has been the subject of different court rulings, but as of now, the Biden administration is scheduled to lift the health order on May 11.

Here’s what you need to know about the law.

What is Title 42?

Title 42 is part of the Public Health Service Act of 1944 aimed at preventing the spread of communicable diseases in the country. According to the law, whenever the U.S. surgeon general determines there is a communicable disease in another country, health officials have the authority, with the approval of the president, to prohibit “the introduction of persons and property from such countries or places” for as long as health officials determine the action is necessary. That authority was transferred from the U.S. surgeon general to the director of the CDC in 1966.