09 MAR 2022
ICYMI: Senators Menendez, Booker, Padilla Urge President Biden To End Title 42, A Policy Harmful to Children and Families, Disproportionately Impacting Black Migrant and Refugees
WASHINGTON, DC - Senate Democrats, including U.S. Senators Bob Menendez, Cory Booker (both D-NJ), Alex Padilla (D-CA), and others, continue to call on President Joe Biden to end the usage of Title 42, originally introduced under the Trump Administration, that continues to mistreat and harm migrants and refugees at the border, disproportionately impacting Black migrants, including Haitian asylum-seekers– thousands of whom have been expelled to Haiti where they face persecution and dangerous conditions. A ruling from a Trump-appointed judge in Texas, last week, callously ordered the Biden administration to expel unaccompanied migrant children under Title 42. The decision reiterates the need to fully revoke Title 42, particularly as the Biden administration seeks to aid and encourage humanitarianism for Ukrainian refugees, some of whom are also seeking asylum at the southern border. In the senators’ statements, they underscore the need for the Biden administration to fulfill its promise to restore access to asylum and keep families together as we emerge from the pandemic and move forward at the border.
In case you missed it…
Menendez, Schumer, Booker and Padilla Joint Statement on Recent Court Decisions
“We urge the Biden Administration to fulfill its early promise to restore access to asylum and end the usage of Title 42 once and for all. The Centers for Disease Control should review their current order given the progress our nation has made in its pandemic recovery. This matter is even more urgent now that the Northern District Court of Texas has made the unconscionable decision to order the Biden Administration to resume the inhumane practice of expelling unaccompanied children. As we emerge from this pandemic, it is time for the Administration to reinstate humanitarian protections at our borders.”
Senator Menendez on MSNBC José Díaz-Balart Reports
“Well look, Title 42 is being used in a way that I think is indiscriminate and that violates the basic essence of our law. We are past the time of using it for the purposes of deportation of those seeking asylum in the United States. What we should be doing is living under the law and to our values, which is adjudicating the cases of those who say they are seeking asylum and determining whether they have a legitimate claim for asylum. But this process that the Biden administration has continued from the Trump administration, in my mind, is inexcusable.”
The Hill: Senate Democrats call on Biden admin to end Trump-era immigration rule
Senate Democrats on Saturday called on the Biden administration to end the use of Title 42, a Trump-era immigration rule enacted in the early days of the pandemic to immediately expel migrants at the border under a public health emergency.
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) as well as Sens. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), issued a statement that it is time to officially end the policy.
"The continued use of Title 42 has created life-threatening conditions for vulnerable migrants, enriched human smugglers, and significantly increased the number of dangerous border crossings," the senators said. “We urge the Biden Administration to fulfill its early promise to restore access to asylum and end the usage of Title 42 once and for all."
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