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Groups challenging the Biden administration over Title 42 expulsions are arguing in federal court today against the continued implementation of the policy. Title 42 is an obscure provision of health law that the Trump administration weaponized during the COVID-19 pandemic to deny people arriving at the southern border their right to seek asylum in the United States.

The American Civil Liberties Union, Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, Oxfam America, RAICES, Texas Civil Rights Project, the ACLU of Texas, and the ACLU of the District of Columbia first sued the Trump administration over Title 42 expulsions of refugee families in 2020. After hitting an impasse in negotiations with the Biden administration to end the policy, the groups went back to court in July 2021 to seek an immediate termination of Title 42. BIDEN MUST END IT – and not continue to implement it under the guise of any adaptation: This hurts all asylum seekers and is horrendously impactful on LGBTQI+ asylum seekers who generally are further marginalized and persecuted in interim countries and by fellow heterosexual/ cis asylum seekers.

When Speaking about Title 42 / and the Huisha-Huisha Case Points to Note – January 19, 2022

Title 42 is an obscure provision of health law that the Trump administration weaponized during the COVID-19 pandemic to deny families, children, and adults arriving at the southern border their right to seek asylum in the United States.

Title 42 is illegal. The Title 42 policy deprives asylum seekers of their legal right to pursue protection, allowing border officials to rapidly expel them to Mexico or to their home countries with no process whatsoever.

The policy violates the right of people fleeing persecution not to be returned to danger, which is enshrined in the United States’ laws and international treaty obligations.

Advocates have brought a class action challenge to stop Title 42 expulsions of families seeking safety. This week litigators from the ACLU, Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, Oxfam America, RAICES, Texas Civil Rights Project, the ACLU of Texas, and the ACLU of the District of Columbia, are back in court arguing for an immediate end to this cruel and unlawful policy.

Title 42 does not protect public health. The CDC order authorizing the expulsions was issued over objections by senior CDC medical experts that it lacked a public health justification. The Biden administration has continued the abuse of Title 42 over the objections of more than 60 members of Congress, public health experts, and top advisors from the administration.

Title 42 fuels violence and chaos at the southern border. Since President Biden took office, there have been at least 8,705 reports of violent attacks—including rape, kidnapping, and assault—against people blocked from requesting asylum protection at the U.S.-Mexico border and/or expelled to Mexico under Title 42, as tracked by Human Rights First.

Title 42 causes family separation by forcing parents to make the impossible decision to keep their children safe by sending them across the border alone, or risk their children’s lives to stay together in dangerous conditions in Mexico.<

SOLUTIONS

The Biden administration must restart asylum, including at ports of entry and along the border.

The United States has the ability to protect public health and safeguard the lives of children, families, and adults seeking asylum and other humanitarian protections – just like we have for non-asylum seekers during the pandemic.

Ports of entry have been open to shoppers, tourists, and other non-essential vaccinated travelers since November, but asylum seekers, even those with proof of vaccination, continue to be blocked and expelled.

Epidemiologists and public health experts have repeatedly called on the Biden administration to revoke the Title 42 order, stating that we can both protect public health and the lives of people seeking refuge by using the kinds of public health measures we all now use.

Instead of blocking people seeking humanitarian protection, the U.S. government should employ measures recommended by public health experts and UNHCR – such as distancing and masks, health screenings, testing, and use of non-congregate settings – to quickly process and parole asylum seekers, pending immigration court proceedings.

The Omicron variant highlights that community transmission within the United States, and not introduction of the virus from Mexico, is driving the spread of COVID-19. Title 42, if anything, only makes things worse.

WATCH LIVE: Advocates go head to head with the Biden administration over its embrace of Title 42, a “Stephen Miller special” designed to punish and endanger people fleeing persecution: https://youtu.be/4wVohptijg4

Twitter accounts to follow/retweet: @ACLU, @CGRShastings, @OxfamAmerica, @RAICESTEXAS, @TXCivilRights, @ACLUTx

READ MORE FROM GROUPS ARGUING THE CASE: HERE
Immigrants’ Rights Advocates Argue In Court Against Title 42 Expulsions

Wednesday, January 19, 2022

Melanie Nathan
AHRC
nathan@AfricanHRC.org
nathan@privatecourts.com
@MelanieNathan1