Title 42

Broadly defined as Public Health and Welfare, this section of the U.S. Federal Code includes the Americans with Disabilities Act in Section 126; the establishment and provisions for NASA in Section 26; the establishment and provision for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in Section 44; and many other well-known departments and initiatives.

The term Title 42 is often used as shorthand for the Trump Administration’s use of the public health, disaster, pandemic, quarantine, and emergency response provision of Title 42 in the early days of the CoVid pandemic to begin restricting the flow of immigrants across the U.S.-Mexican border, as well as to detain those who crossed the border. While the term is used as shorthand, it is not an accurate term, and EAPM suggests not using the term as shorthand for the detention policies during the first Trump Administration.

When discussing the U.S. national code, write Public Health and Welfare (Title 42 of the U.S. Code) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (Section126) for clarity if or when the formal code is required.

Also see U.S. Code.