A federal judge in Washington, DC has suspended enforcement of Title 42, a 1944 public health directive invoked by the Trump administration to justify the deportation of millions of migrants and to block immigration into the US, CNN reports.

The CDC had announced earlier this year that it intended to phase out enforcement of the rule, which states the Surgeon General could authorize a block of travelers from countries where communicable diseases were prevalent.  During the height of the coronavirus pandemic, when the United States led large industrialized nations in infection and fatality rates, the Trump administration claimed it had to stop migrants from exacerbating the already-raging pandemic the administration claimed it had under control.

Under the rule, people interdicted at the border were returned to Mexico immediately, without a hearing or due process.  Also under the rule, the Trump administration required people seeking asylum in the United States, who would normally be allowed to stay in the US pending their status hearing, to remain in Mexico.

After the CDC’s announcement that it would stop invoking Title 42, conservative groups sued to maintain the policy, and the CDC’s decision was suspended by a Trump-appointed judge in Louisiana.  However, in the recent case, District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled the application of Title 42 didn’t serve any public health purpose thanks to the wide availability of effective coronavirus vaccines.