This past week, the expiration of “Title 42” was a big headline in the news.  And, while it is too soon to be sure, it is likely that the expiration may end up being a tempest in a tea pot (not that the MAGA folks will ever admit this reality).  But to the extent that this comes up as a topic, here is some basic (admittedly oversimplified) immigration law for non-lawyers.

One of the major development in law in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century was the Napoleonic Code in France.  Prior to Napoleon, when laws were enacted, they were recorded and published.  But you would need to search through every annual volume to see what the statutes were on any given topic.  The concept behind the Napoleonic Code was that in addition to the annual volumes of that year’s new statute, there would also be a collection organized by topic of the current laws in effect on a topic.  It took time for the idea to catch on her, but eventually, the U.S. organized its laws into the U.S. Code.

But there is one problem with the code system — where do you place a law in the code that impacts multiple topics.  When it comes to immigration law, most laws impacting immigration are found in Title 8 — the part of the U.S. Code governing immigration and naturalization.  However, there is also a title of the U.S. Code (Title 18) that contains most of the federal criminal statutes — which is why there are some things that are not allowed by Title 8 which are simply improper immigration and not criminal.  And for this discussion, there is Title 42 which contains laws related to Public Health and Welfare. Continue Reading...