Friend,
Earlier this month, the Biden Administration announced that it is ending the Title 42 policy on May 23, 2022.
Title 42 is a Trump-era policy that expels migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border without giving them the opportunity to seek asylum. It is a policy about public health that the Trump Administration began implementing in March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic began which Republicans used as an excuse to prevent migrants from exercising their legal right to seek asylum in the U.S.
We at America’s Voice applaud the Biden Administration for taking steps to create a more fair and humane immigration system. Applying for asylum at our borders and ports of entry is a legal right under U.S. and international law. By ending Title 42, the Biden Administration is finally following the science and law and the values that President Biden ran on. As our country is returning to a more normal way of living, there is no reason why Title 42 needs to remain in place.
Our immigration system is not up to the challenges of the 21st century. People are fleeing Putin’s violence in Ukraine and many see their only route to safety as through Mexico to try their luck at asking for asylum at the U.S. Mexico border. Others fleeing chaos and communist dictators in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua have no options other than walking to the U.S. border with Mexico.Title 42 is designed to make sure these refugees never get to make a case for asylum in the U.S., as well as those fleeing violence and conflict in Central America, the Caribbean or Africa, or those fleeing countries where identifying as LGBTQ can be a death sentence.
Unfortunately, since the Biden Administration announced an end to Title 42, Republicans and some Democrats like Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia have called for Title 42 to remain in place.
Republicans who call for the continuation of Title 42 are doing so to score political points by using sound bites such as “open borders” and conspiracies like “replacement theory” to scare voters. These politicians want voters to be scared of people who are simply trying to provide a better future for themselves and their families.
As in previous years, the U.S. is expecting an increase in migrant arrivals at our border, regardless of whether Title 42 is in place or not. But ending Title 42 does not mean the U.S. will have an “open border” immigration policy. The Biden Administration has a plan for an increase in migrants this summer. It includes:
- Setting up processing centers that integrate the work of multiple immigration agencies to keep Border Patrol in the field, rather than filling out paperwork
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Increasing capacity at the border to process new arrivals, evaluate asylum requests and quickly remove migrants that do not quality for protection
- Creating border sector plans to reduce crowding across the border
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Investing in technology and smart border infrastructure to crack down on cartels
- Working with Central American and regional neighbors to reduce the pressures forcing people to leave their home countries.
Regardless of what Republicans and Senators like Hassan and Warnock say, ending Title 42 is the right thing to do. Here’s why:
