08 APR 2022
Hub Highlights: From the Ukraine-Poland Border to Tucson, Elected Officials and Experts Call Welcome the End of Title 42 and Urge Meaningful Reforms That Meet The Moment
WASHINGTON, DC - Days after the Biden Administration announced it is ending the use of Title 42 by late May, Senators James Lankford (OK-R) and Krysten Sinema (AZ-D) introduced a bill to upend America’s asylum system and keep Title 42 in place – a harmful policy that has had detrimental impacts on children and families, particularly Haitian and Black seeking protection. The bill is a “gross political misstep,” as the Immigration Hub’s Sergio Gonzales recently stated, at a time when America’s European allies are welcoming Ukrainian refugees fleeing war and heartbreaking circumstances. While Republicans use the end of Title 42 for electoral fodder and campaign ads, leaders from across the country are speaking out, stressing the importance of revoking Title 42 and rising to this moment with meaningful reforms to welcome Ukrainian, Haitian, and other asylum seekers.
Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (TX-16) reminds the public and her colleagues sponsoring the Lankford-Sinema bill that “seeking asylum is legal.” In an interview on MSNBC, Rep. Escobar states that Congress should not undermine the right to claim asylum and stressing that both Title 42 and MPP have been failed policies. “Immigration has always been a positive for our GDP. We need to look for solutions together that don’t simply involve hardening the border,” she urged.
Mayor of Tucson, Regina Romero, and her city are prepared to welcome asylum seekers and refugees. In an interview with NPR, the mayor of the Arizona city explains that her community has experienced the varying flow of migrants throughout multiple administrations. On whether there is enough time to prepare Tucson for the end of Title 42, she states, “Yes, there is time. We can do this. We did it throughout the COVID emergency. The city of Tucson and Pima County got together, and we used motels and hotels to make sure that we were separating and not putting people into shelter type of situations.”
On getting the facts on immigration policy across: “That it is not an invasion, as people would want to characterize what we live through in Arizona and throughout the borderlands. We can no longer give in to the anti-immigrant political gamesmanship by Republicans trying to trivialize the right to seek asylum and the need we have for immigrant labor in this country.
Former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch makes an urgent call for support and immigration reform. Lynch and Steven Banks, former commissioner of the New York City Department of Social Services, point out that the current immigration system in the United States is a major barrier for Ukranians hoping to come to the United States. They write, “Despite our combined 80 years working in the legal system, we struggled to explain some aspects of U.S. immigration law: that the term “refugee” does not necessarily protect a family fleeing a war; that our system is aimed at providing refuge only to those who can meet the high bar of particularized discrimination against them; that our Temporary Protected Status applies only to those already in the U.S. Ultimately, we found a few crevices in the existing law that might allow this family to squeeze through to freedom, and our firm will represent them (and others in similar positions) if that is their goal.”
On what this moment calls for: “For those hopes to become a reality, the administration must move swiftly to promulgate the program rules, staff up, and expedite the process. And at least until we live in a world without cyclical humanitarian crises, we need an immigration law that is flexible enough to meet this kind of moment.”
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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.