Grade 4 of 5: Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern
Title 42 Expulsions: Public-Health Order Used to Expel Asylum Seekers Without Screening, Over CDC Experts' Objections (March 2020)
The administration used a COVID-19 public-health order to close the southern border to asylum seekers, expelling hundreds of thousands of people with no protection screening. Top CDC scientists said there was no public-health basis for it. Human Rights Watch found it violated the US obligation not to return people to persecution or torture.