Trump administration could invoke public health order that smears asylum-seeking immigrants as possible disease carriers that could spread tuberculosis. Administration officials have argued that the Public Health Service Act under Title 42 of U.S. code allows authorities to block immigrants from entering the country without due process for their asylum claims despite federal immigration laws and international accords.
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The order, through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, would be enforced by border officials to expel immigrants from the U.S.-Mexico border to their home country or other nations willing to accept them, according to CBS News, citing documents reviewed by the network.
The Independent has requested comment from the White House. Trump’s return to Title 42 enforcement follows a series of sweeping anti-immigration actions, from gutting the asylum process to directing federal law enforcement agencies to prioritize deportations and unilaterally redefining 14th Amendment protections for birthright citizenship.
The president has already ordered border officials to deport immigrants without recognizing a legal right to request asylum, which is protected under federal law and international human rights agreements. Trump claims that he has the authority under 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows the president to ban immigrants who are deemed “detrimental” to the country.
Trump also shut down an app created during the Biden administration that allowed immigrants to begin their asylum claims and make appointments with immigration officers before they reached the southern border. In December, Trump’s White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was once again looking at Title 42 as part of his planned “mass deportation operation.”.
Administration officials reported an average of fewer than 300 illegal border crossings per day recently, reflecting a 90 percent decrease from February 2024, Border Patrol chief Mike Banks told CBS News last week. The bacteria that causes tuberculosis is on the rise, according to the World Health Organization’s 2024 report for the United States.
“Just from the objective standpoint of TB and the risk of TB being transported across the border, TB incidence rates are high in the countries where immigrants are coming from, but they're not exceedingly high relative to other countries,” he said.
