01 APR 2022

Biden Administration’s Plan to End Title 42 Ensures Families Stay Together As America Gets Back to Business

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, the CDC announced plans to fully revoke Title 42 by May 23. In March, the Biden administration exempted children and Ukrainian refugees from the Trump-era policy while keeping it in place for families and single adults, disproportionately impacting Haitians, Central Americans and other asylum seekers and refugees at the border. Now, by fully revoking Title 42, President Biden is recommitting America to our values by responsibly welcoming those seeking safety and refuge right here at home- as our European allies have done abroad. This is an important and commendable action by the Biden administration to roll back cruel and harmful policies of the past and implement new ones to gradually rebuild a more fair, orderly and humane immigration system.

Sergio Gonzales, Executive Director of the Immigration Hub, issued the following statement: “We applaud the decision of the CDC - a determination that will finally put an end to a policy that held no public health merit and was discriminately used to expel families, including children. We know that with the end of Title 42 there will be mischaracterizations about what will happen next and what it means for America’s borders. But the bottom line is that the Biden administration is ready and it has a plan. While Republicans will stumble all over themselves to attack the president and Democrats to score political points with xenophobic dog whistles and no real solutions, President Biden and his administration are getting back to regular order with a plan to restore and improve our asylum system and manage any increase in migration at the border. They have the capacity and resources to ensure an orderly process at the border while continuing to build on their multifaceted approach to manage the border and work with leaders and NGOs in the Western Hemisphere to meet the challenges of global migration. This is the right thing to do. As we watch our European allies extend compassion to Ukrainian refugees abroad, we are reminded of our own values and history in welcoming those yearning to breathe free. This is how we live up to our promise to the American public and those who are fleeing persecution, torture or war and seeking protection within our borders.”

Republican and certain critics have said that the Biden administration is unprepared to manage migration at the border and that Title 42 is an effective tool in reducing the flow of migration. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Administration has published a detailed operational plan that outlines the personnel, transportation, medical support and facilities that will be required under four different scenarios to ensure order and control. Keeping Title 42 in place promotes disorder and worsens the situation at the border:

  • Title 42 exacerbates the flows of individuals at the border. Title 42 actually increases the flow of individuals at the border because they quickly return to attempt reentry after being expelled and are not charged with crossing the border unlawfully. This feeds an ugly cycle where human smugglers have an incentive to continue to lure migrants to re-attempt. In total, the rate at which people crossed the border multiple times rose from 7% in March 2020 to 40% by October 2020 while Title 42 was in place, before falling to an annual rate of 27% throughout 2021. Revoking Title 42, on the other hand, allows for regular order, ensuring legal consequences: a process where those who are eligible for asylum can pursue their case and those who are not are removed, and smugglers and certain border crossers will be referred for criminal prosecution.

  • Title 42 fuels violence and chaos at the southern border. Since the enactment of Title 42, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has turned away refugees and asylum seekers more than one million times to places where their fate frequently includes kidnappings, rape, human trafficking, and violent armed assault. Additionally since President Biden took office, there have been at least 9,866 reports of violent attacks - including rape, kidnapping, and assault - against people blocked from requesting protection at the U.S.-Mexico border and/or expelled to Mexico under Title 42, as tracked by Human Rights First. 

  • Title 42 has had a disparate impact on Black migrants seeking safety. Unlike Ukrainian asylum seekers who have been exempted from the policy, Title 42 has been discriminately and disproportionately used to expel Haitian and Black refugees back to the countries they fled and to dangerous regions in Mexico without access to the U.S. asylum process. Despite national outcry following brutality against Haitian families in Del Rio, the administration has expelled over 20,600 Haitians - including pregnant women, children and babies - back to Haiti where they face humanitarian and political crises, including gang violence and persecution.

  • Asylum is legal. While America applauds the courage and compassion of our European allies who are welcoming Ukrainian asylum seekers, in our own backyard, Title 42 stands in violation of the U.S. and international right to seek asylum. People at the border should have the opportunity to apply for asylum. Not everyone will be eligible and DHS Is clear that those who are not eligible will be swiftly removed.

  • A new bill, the Public Health and Border Security Act of 2022, introduced by Senators James Lankford (R - OK) and Krysten Sinema (D-AZ) would make it near impossible to rescind Title 42. If this bill passes, it would politicize COVID-related emergency public health designations, putting health related programs and funding in jeopardy as they would then be tied to immigration policy. Ultimately, the bill would also have immensely harmful impacts on families and worsen America’s asylum system. Instead of pushing a bill that would create a family separation crisis and chaos at the border, Congress should fund President Biden’s budget request to further invest in technology, processing centers and other resources to improve our border infrastructure. 

President Biden has a comprehensive plan in place to manage migration and the border. Republicans have made immigration a centerpiece of their midterm strategy, which is why they have used the Title 42 announcement to continue their political gamesmanship with threats to derail the COVID aid bill and deploy campaign ads in battleground states. Despite these attacks, and lost in the conversation, the Biden administration has been implementing a full-scale approach to restore America’s asylum system, address the root causes of migration, invest in technology and smart border infrastructure, crack down on cartel and human smugglers, and create an orderly process at the border. The Biden administration is also ready to mitigate any increase in migration.

Even after the end of Title 42, DHS will still be able to place individuals in removal proceedings. Moreover, Director Walensky reserved the right to issue a new Order to suspend the entry of non-citizens based on new findings, as dictated by public health needs.  

  • DHS already has tools to manage any increase in migration, including the authority under expedited removal to remove individuals. Revoking Title 42 does not mean that people aren’t removed; in fact, while those who request asylum will be processed into the country and allowed to pursue their case, those who don’t request asylum or who lose their case will be removed.

  • DHS has put in place a comprehensive, whole-of-government strategy to manage any potential increase in the number of migrants encountered at our border, by increasing its capacity to process new arrivals, evaluate asylum requests, and quickly remove those who do not qualify for protection. 

  • DHS will increase personnel and resources as needed and have already redeployed more than 600 law enforcement officers to the border. There will be greater order and control at the border if individuals are being processed at ports of entry rather than being forced under Title 42 to arrive between ports of entry.  

  • The Biden administration is deploying the resources to process migrants quickly and safely, making sure families stay together and our immigration laws are enforced. Their new asylum regulation lays out a plan to reduce the backlog, create processing centers and increase reviews of cases, among other components to meet the needs at the border. 

  • Smugglers and certain border crossers will be referred for criminal prosecution.

  • COVID-19 protocols will still be in place. Over the next two months, DHS is putting in place additional, appropriate COVID-19 protocols, including ramping up the vaccination program. 

Among some of the strongest components of the Biden administration’s plan are

  • increasing DHS personnel from around the country, 

  • rapidly establishing temporary processing centers,   

  • creating orderly border sector plans to reduce crowding and assess cases across the border, and 

  • launching a multi-agency response to protect both the public safety and health of all Americans and those who are seeking protection.

President Biden’s plan critically addresses the root causes of migration by

  • investing in the top-sending countries to help stabilize their economies, address insecurity and support agriculture and small businesses; 

  • going after the cartels who now view humans akin to drugs in their business model

  • creating more legal options to migrate, such as employment visas, more refugee slots, and parole for children; and

  • working with countries in the region to bolster their own protection systems and to increase their own capacity to provide work visas.

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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.