10 MAY 2023
ICYMI: UnidosUS’s Janet Murguía: “We need a plan for humane immigration after Title 42 ends"
WASHINGTON — This week, Janet Murguía, President and CEO of UnidosUS, penned an op-ed in response to the end of Title 42 and the Biden administration’s newly proposed asylum rule.
Murguía writes:
“Our community does not support open borders, nor do we tolerate seeing children in danger, families separated and detained or people suffering. We want a functioning immigration system that is humane, efficient and secure.”
This is why UnidosUS strongly opposes Biden’s new asylum rule that will ultimately limit access to asylum. She adds, “In the end, refugees will be returned to life-threatening danger in their home countries and this is the asylum rule’s fatal flaw.”
Instead, Murguía advocates for the solutions proposed in The Menendez Plan as well as the funding needed to fully implement it. The plan, she writes: “...offers pragmatic and forward-looking solutions to manage migration and refugees in the Americas and secure our borders. Instead of severely limiting asylum access, the administration should invest deeper in hemispheric cooperation and further expand avenues for humanitarian migration.” As the American Immigration Council suggests in a special report, elected leaders must move away from short-term solutions, and instead, “focus on establishing a viable path towards a better system.”
In case you missed it…
“While the Trump administration launched Title 42 as a “temporary” measure to supposedly prevent the spread of COVID-19, it was used instead as a blunt enforcement tool to expel migrants, including families, children and legitimate asylum seekers from the United States. Sadly, Title 42 will leave much human suffering in its wake, and yet, it has not strengthened our asylum system or border management.”
“The federal government has taken some constructive steps that help ease the strain on the border… These efforts still fall short, however, of addressing our border challenges, much less when Title 42 ends. Aware of this, the Biden administration proposed an asylum rule that would encourage people to seek refuge closer to home and to enter the U.S. at our southern border with an appointment using a smartphone app.”
“It is unclear if the proposed asylum rule will work, and paired with the Department of Homeland Security’s plan to swiftly expel migrants under Title 8 and to deploy 1,500 troops on the border, it’s likely to deny refuge to the most vulnerable migrants, including families with children… In the end, refugees will be returned to life-threatening danger in their home countries and this is the asylum rule’s fatal flaw.”
“The Menendez Plan, proposed by Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) offers pragmatic and forward-looking solutions to manage migration and refugees in the Americas and secure our borders… For this, the government needs the resources. We call on Congress to fund the above-mentioned solutions to restore fairness to the asylum process, improve humanitarian conditions at the border and ensure communities have the resources they need to welcome newcomers.”
Dive Deeper: Read Marshall Fitz’s, the Managing Director for Immigration at Emerson Collective and Dan Restrepo, former Special Assistant to President Obama for Western Hemisphere Affairs op-ed in El País calling on Congress and the Biden administration to “resist the siren song of narrow, simplistic approaches bound to fail” and instead focus on implementing “durable, effective solutions” outlined in the Los Angeles Declaration and the Menendez Plan.
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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.