Ending Expulsions Under Title 42 Is an Absolute Necessity

“Republican Senators who are holding up urgent lifesaving programs that actually fight COVID in a misguided ploy to force the Biden administration to reinstitute Title 42 are playing a dangerous game.”—Aaron C. Morris, Immigration Equality’s Executive Director

New York, NY (April 7, 2022)—The Biden administration announced last week that it will end the use of Title 42 to expel migrants and asylum seekers at the border. On its face, the policy purported to prevent the spread of COVID, but top experts at the CDC have argued that the exclusions had little or no effect on public health. Since its inception two years ago, the Trump and Biden administrations used Title 42 to expel a total of over 1.7 million migrants and refugees. Now, a large group of anti-immigrant Senators seek to hold hostage COVID funding relief unless the unjustifiable policy is forced back into effect.  

Statement from Immigration Equality’s Executive Director, Aaron C. Morris:  

“We welcome the Biden administration’s decision to end the use of Title 42 to expel migrants and asylum seekers. For years, the atrocities that resulted from expelling millions of individuals under Title 42 shattered America’s reputation as a bastion of human rights. At the same time, the implementation of Title 42 did little or nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Ending this illegal, immoral policy was long overdue.  

“The Republican Senators who are holding up urgent lifesaving programs that actually fight COVID in a misguided ploy to force the Biden administration to reinstitute Title 42 are playing a dangerous game. Their xenophobic politicking is putting asylum seekers and Americans in great danger. This is appalling because there is no public health justification for using Title 42 to prevent refugees from seeking safety in the United States.   

“Every day that Title 42 continues, queer refugees will suffer. Asylum seekers with meritorious claims will continue to be expelled to their countries of origin—and for LGBTQ refugees, this means facing persecution, torture, or death. Those returned to Mexico will continue to be subject to kidnapping, rape, and assault.  

“Democratic senators and the Biden administration must hold firm. As a result of stopping expulsions under Title 42, deserving LGBTQ asylum seekers will have the opportunity to make their case. It is their right to come to the U.S. to ask for safety, and our nation’s moral obligation to respect that right.”