WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats and immigration advocates are pressing the White House to end controversial Trump-era immigration policies enacted during the pandemic that allowed U.S. officials to expel migrants and asylum seekers at the border.
“I remain disappointed, deeply disappointed in the administration’s response,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said on a call with reporters last week.
This policy, known as Title 42, was introduced by the Trump administration in 2020 to prevent migrants from seeking asylum in the US citing a health crisis such as the Covid-19 pandemic. It also expelled migrants to their home countries.
Over a million migrants have been expelled under Title 42, According to to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. According to the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 36,654 air removals were carried out through enforcement and removal operations report released by ICE on Friday.
It’s a policy the Biden administration has maintained but changed to prevent expulsion of unaccompanied children.
Two weeks ago, a district court in Texas ruled that the Biden administration could not exempt children from the rule, and an appeals court in Washington ruled that the Biden administration could not employ Title 42 to expel immigrant families to countries where they could face persecution.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez DN.J. said during that phone call last Thursday that the Biden administration should continue to defend “its original decision to prevent child expulsions.”
“Expelling children is not consistent with who we are as a nation,” he said, adding that Title 42 “is neither humane nor effective in managing migration.”
Documents show top Department of Homeland Security officials plan to tell Mexico the policy could end as early as April obtained via Buzzfeed News.
Menendez said he and the Congressional Latino Caucus have requested a meeting with President Joe Biden from the White House to discuss Title 42 and other immigration policies, but have not yet received a response.
He added that the White House should direct the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention not to renew the policy, which was passed as a public health measure.
The CDC decides every 60 days whether to keep Title 42 in effect. The next decision will be made on April 1.
“We focused on an administration that really relied on and leveraged the resolve of the CDC to implement this policy,” he said. “I have no doubt that if the administration decided that it would actually no longer attempt to pursue this policy, the CDC would follow it.”
Before Title 42, migrants arrested at the border could apply for asylum and wait for their applications to be processed to determine whether they could remain in the U.S.
The chairwoman of the House Homeland Security Committee’s border panel, U.S. Rep. Nanette Barragán, D-Calif., said in a telephone interview that a hearing on Title 42 will be held in the coming weeks. She recently held hearing that examined another Trump immigration policy that a federal court in Texas forced the Biden administration to maintain.
Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrant Rights Project, said on the call that the organization is prepared to take legal action if the Title 42 policy remains in place.
He said the ACLU urges the Biden administration not to appeal the D.C. Court of Appeals’ decision and toss out the Texas ruling that does not allow unaccompanied minors to receive Title 42 relief.
“The administration can deal with both cases by simply ending Title 42, which is why we urge the administration to do so,” he said.
Guerline Jozef, executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, said more than 20,000 migrants have been expelled to Haiti under Title 42. She added that people fleeing unstable countries should be able to apply for asylum in the U.S., regardless of whether they are from Haiti or Ukraine.
According to many media outlets, a woman and three children from Ukraine were turned away at the US border with Mexico under Title 42 reports. More than 2 million people fled Ukraine after Russia attacked the country. Ultimately, the family was allowed to enter the United States
“It is unacceptable that President Biden and his administration will continue to use Title 42 to literally deport, expel, some of our most vulnerable people,” Joseph said.
