A migrant boy holds his hands up to indicate that he is 10 years old after being asked his age by a National Guard officer after he was detained crossing the Rio Grande with another child and a young boy in Eagle Pass on June 2.

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., vacated a controversial border policy known as Title 42, a public health law invoked during the pandemic that allowed border agents to quickly turn back migrants.

The policy was put into place by the Trump administration in 2020. The Biden administration continued to use Title 42 before attempting to wind it down in the spring, an effort that was blocked in court.

On Tuesday, U.S. Judge Emmet Sullivan vacated the policy, calling it “arbitrary and capricious.” Sullivan vacated the use of the policy and all memos associated with it.

“The ruling hopefully puts an end to this shameful period of misusing the public health laws to bar desperate asylum seekers from even getting a hearing,” said Lee Gelernt, the ACLU attorney who led the case against the policy in federal court.