11 MAR 2022

Hub Highlights: Chorus to End Title 42 Keeps Getting Louder as Congressional Democrats, Immigration, Health Care and Children's Advocates Pressure President Biden to Revoke the Policy

Texas Ruling Looms Large with Potential to Harm Children and Families at the Border

WASHINGTON, DC - Yesterday, during a press call hosted by the Immigration Hub, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), U.S. Representative Nanette Diaz Barragán (CA-44), immigration experts, and children’s advocates urged President Biden to fully restore access to asylum and revoke Title 42. The congressional Democratic leaders and advocates echoed the groundswell of opposition reflected in a letter signed by over 300 immigrant and human rights organizations, demanding that President Biden revoke the Trump-era policy, which is currently being utilized by the Biden administration to expel migrants and refugees without access to a fair process. 

This increased pressure from top Democrats and advocates comes as Biden v. Texas, which could force the Biden administration to expel unaccompanied children under Title 42, is set to take effect tonight unless the Biden administration requests a stay. 

What Democratic Leaders Are Saying:

  • Sen. Bob Menendez: Rather than pursuing the hard but necessary work of adjudicating asylum claims, the Biden admin is continuing Trump's policy of using Title 42 to indiscriminately deport asylum seekers. This is an inexcusable betrayal of our nation’s values. It’s time to end Title 42 now.

  • Sen. Cory Booker: “I am calling on @POTUS to end Title 42. This Trump era relic endangers families seeking asylum, especially children. We have a moral obligation to end these expulsions and provide access to a safe and fair asylum process for everyone seeking protection.”

  • Sen. Elizabeth Warren: “Title 42 is a dangerous, inhumane relic of the Trump era that has been used to thwart the right to seek asylum. We must lead with our values and ensure that no one fleeing danger is put in harm’s way. It’s beyond time we end Title 42 completely.”

  • Senator Jeff Merkley: Trump's Title 42 border expulsion order was never about public health. We're thankful @SenSchumer spoke out against the immoral policy today. It's time for @POTUS to end the policy once and for all. #WelcomeWithDignity

  • Congressional Hispanic Caucus: The CHC urges the Biden Administration to build on its efforts to create a professional, humane immigration system; strengthen our legal pathways for immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers; and to fully revoke Title 42.

  • Rep. Nanette Barragán: “It's past time to end the administration's use of Title 42. We must restore access to asylum at our borders. The administration promised to build a system that was more humane and treats migrants fairly ... we must do better.” #EndTitle42

  • Rep. Ayanna Pressley: We've been calling on @POTUS to end Title 42 for months. It's long past time to #EndTitle42, halt these abhorrent & racist deportations, and build a more just & equitable immigration system.

  • Rep. Raul Grijalva: “It’s time to end the Trump-era Title 42 policy that has been used to turn away adults and children where they may face persecution or torture. Our country must restore our asylum policies to ensure all migrants seeking refuge access a system that is more humane, fair and just.”

  • Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz: We can protect public health and the lives of those seeking refuge in the United States. Biden’s Admin should act to end the inhumanity of Title 42 and stop the mass expulsion of Haitians and other asylum seekers on our southern border.

  • Rep. Linda Sánchez: Title 42 must go. With COVID cases decreasing nationwide and testing and vaccines readily available, there is no excuse to continue this inhumane & unjust policy. I stand with my @HispanicCaucus colleagues in calling on @POTUS to keep his promise & put an end to Title 42 now.

  • Rep. Jimmy Gomez: Title 42 is a Trump-era relic that sends those seeking refuge back to violent & unsafe conditions they wished to escape. This policy is dangerous, inhumane, and unjust. It’s way past time for the Biden administration to #EndTitle42.

  • Former Governor Charlie Crist: As we move past COVID and responsibly return to normal, so too should our immigration policies. It's time to #EndTitle42 and treat refugees safely and fairly, consistent with our immigration laws.

What Health and Children’s Welfare Experts Are Saying:

  • Doctors Without Borders: Surviving a dangerous journey across the Americas, crossing the harrowing Darien Gap in Panama… Then, for many seeking safety in the US, reaching the border, and finding it is essentially closed to asylum seekers. #EndTitle42

  • Physicians for Human Rights: Despite #Title42 being implemented under the guise of a pandemic safety measure, public health experts have long objected to Title 42 expulsions. There is simply NO epidemiological evidence to justify banning #asylum seekers only.

  • Public Health Awakened: Trump's Title 42 border expulsion order was never about public health. We're thankful @SenSchumer spoke out against the immoral policy today. It's time for @POTUS to end the policy once and for all. #WelcomeWithDignity

  • Kids in Need of Defense: The use of Title 42 to enforce border expulsions has always been a misguided policy, but any expansion to include the deportation of children would be detrimental. We urge the Biden Administration to reject any policy that would put children in harm’s way.

What The Headlines Are Saying:

The Washington Post: Democratic lawmakers, civil liberties groups demand end to Title 42 border expulsions

Leading Senate Democrats demanded that the Biden administration immediately end a Trump-era policy that blocks asylum-seeking migrants from crossing land borders into the United States, after lawyers said U.S. Customs and Border Protection expelled a single mother of three who had traveled from Ukraine to Mexico seeking refuge.

Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) cited the “desperate” Ukrainian family at a news conference Thursday and said he was deeply disappointed that the Biden administration has dragged out the Trump-era policy, which a federal appeals court in D.C. last week called “questionable.” Since the Trump administration issued the order two years ago under Title 42 of the public health code, officials have expelled more than 1.6 million migrants to countries such as Haiti and Mexico.

CBS News: Biden faces intensifying Democratic pressure to discontinue Trump-era border expulsions

President Biden is facing intensifying pressure from his own party to stop deporting migrants under a pandemic-era border restriction that top Democrats in Congress on Thursday forcefully denounced as an "inhumane" Trump administration relic that skirts U.S. asylum laws.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer joined other Democratic lawmakers in urging Mr. Biden to halt the expulsion policy, which has allowed U.S. border agents to expel migrants over 1.6 million times in two years. He called the policy, known as Title 42, an illegal program with "disastrous" consequences for asylum-seekers.

Miami Herald: Democrats pressure Biden to do away with health order used to keep migrants out of U.S.

Democratic leaders are increasing pressure on President Joe Biden to do away with a public health order that prevents migrants from entering the country, citing a nationwide loosening of pandemic-era restrictions and the presence of Ukrainian refugees at the southern border as reasons to end the program. It’s the latest salvo in what has become a significant point of contention between the White House and top Democratic lawmakers and immigration groups over Title 42 — a policy put in place by former President Donald Trump that Biden has maintained, despite pledges to overhaul the nation’s immigration system. “As our nation recovers from the pandemic, it is far past time to restore access to legal and lifesaving asylum at our borders,” said Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Menendez, D-N.J., on a call with reporters Thursday.

Roll Call: Pressure builds to end pandemic-era border expulsions

Democratic lawmakers upped pressure on the White House to scrap Title 42, a public health directive used to expel migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, noting a rollback of other pandemic restrictions along with a court decision last week limiting the policy.

In a call with reporters Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer said he was “deeply disappointed” with the Biden administration’s continued use of Title 42, first begun under the Trump administration to prevent the spread of COVID-19. 

Mother Jones: Democratic Senators Also Don’t Get Why Biden Is Still Using a Cruel Trump-Era Border Policy

More than a year has passed since President Biden decided to continue enforcing a Trump-era border closure policy that claimed the pandemic was reason to turn migrants and asylum seekers back without proper screenings. Title 42, as the policy is known, is now very much a Biden policy—and like other high-ranking Democrats and immigrant rights activists, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) says it’s on Biden to end it: “Now is the time to stop the madness.”

Border Report: Senate Democrats tell Biden to end Title 42, reopen border to asylum-seekers

As the nation comes out of the COVID-19 pandemic, two influential Senate Democrats are calling on President Biden to stop expelling vulnerable migrants through a controversial public health rule.

“Title 42 has been nothing short of disastrous for immigrant families seeking asylum from the horrors in their own countries,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, said. “It is unacceptable that this policy continues to be used indiscriminately to remove migrants with valid refuge claims from our Southern border.”

Associated Press: US reverses course, allows Ukrainian family to seek asylum

Schumer raised the Ukrainian woman's case as he called for an end to use of Title 42, which the Biden administration has defended as health risks from COVID-19 have subsided.

“They requested refuge in one of the ports of entry on our southern border, but were turned away because of Title 42,” Schumer said on a conference call with reporters. “This is not who we are as a country. Continuing this Trump-era policy has defied common sense and common decency."

CNN: Ukrainian family allowed into US after being stopped at US-Mexico border

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, cited the situation during a call with reporters as part of his plea to the administration to end Title 42.

“This is not, this is not who we are as a country,” Schumer said.

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The Immigration Hub is a national organization dedicated to advancing fair and just immigration policies through strategic leadership, innovative communications strategies, legislative advocacy and collaborative partnerships.