They block Title 42, which allowed immigrants to be deported at the southern border

(CNN) — A federal judge on Tuesday granted the ban Title 42The controversial rule has allowed U.S. officials to deport more than 1 million migrants who have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border.

Tuesday’s ban leaves the Biden administration without one of the key tools it has used to deal with the thousands of migrants arriving at the border every day and restore access to asylum for immigrants.

Although the rule was written by the Trump administration during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Biden administration has relied heavily on it to manage the surge of immigrants at the border.

District Judge Emmett Sullivan in Washington found the Title 42 order “arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.”

Before Title 42, all immigrants apprehended at the border were processed under immigration law. Thousands of migrants sent back to Mexico wait at the border in shelters. Officials have previously raised concerns about the end of Title 42 because of limited resources and large numbers of people trying to enter the country.

CNN has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.

Sullivan blamed the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which issued the public health directive, “for their decision to ignore the potential harm” in publishing politics. He said the CDC is also not considering alternative approaches, such as allowing immigrants to self-isolate in the U.S. with friends, relatives or shelters. He said the agency should have reconsidered its approach when vaccines and tests become more widely available.

“As to whether defendants could have had ‘increased vaccinations, open processing and all available public health measures’… the court finds that the CDC has failed to articulate a satisfactory explanation as to why such measures were not taken.” Sullivan wrote.

The judge also concluded that because Covid-19 was already widespread in the United States when the policy was implemented, the policy did not reasonably serve its purpose.

“Title 42 has never been about public health, and this ruling finally stops desperate asylum seekers from using Title 42 to get a hearing,” the American union attorney said in a statement. in English), Lee Gelernt, argued the case.

The injunction came from the ACLU along with other immigrant advocacy groups, and covers all demographic groups, including single adults and families. Destitute children are already exempted from the order.

The public health commission was implemented at the start of the coronavirus pandemic and has been criticized by immigration advocates, lawyers and health experts, who argue that it has no basis in health and puts immigrants at risk.

Sullivan previously blocked the Biden administration from deporting immigrant families with children detained at the US-Mexico border.

Earlier this year, the CDC announced plans to repeal the order. That’s what the CDC said at the time It is no longer necessary Current public health conditions and vaccines and treatments for Covid-19 are increasingly available.

But in May, a federal judge in Louisiana blocked The Biden administration must end Title 42.

Since that court order, the administration has continued to rely on Title 42 and, more recently, expanded it to include Venezuelan immigrants who have arrived in large numbers at the U.S. southern border.

CNN’s Tierney Sneed contributed to this report.