Biden administration continues to promote Trump-era anti-asylum policies like Title 42

Washington — The Biden administration has announced plans to expand the use of the Trump-era Title 42 policy to expel asylum-seekers from Cuba, Haiti, and Nicaragua in addition to continued expulsions of asylum-seekers from Venezuela. This expansion combined with Biden’s proposal for a Stephen Miller-reminiscent “transit ban” endangers vulnerable migrants who come to the US seeking safety. Refugee Congress condemns the expansion of Title 42 and proposed anti-asylum policies and calls on the Biden administration to uphold and restore the legal right to asylum for all. 

Title 42 is a discriminatory policy that was put in place under the guise of a “temporary public health” measure. Now, over three years after it was implemented by the Trump administration, the Biden administration continues to lean on this dangerous, unlawful policy as a tool for immigration control and expelling refugees, rather than working to restore asylum law and utilize our resources at all ports of entry. 

“The plans announced by Biden yesterday are basically ‘Remain in Mexico’ in a new form,” said Nili Sarit Yossinger, Executive Director, Refugee Congress. “We are deeply distressed by the administration’s claims to want to restore asylum pathways while continuing to expand detrimental policies like Title 42 and other Trump-era policies. The new limited pathways announced by Biden do not diminish the fact that the administration has further endangered asylum-seekers and is actively contributing to the dismantling of the legal right to seek asylum.”  

“It is unacceptable that the Biden administration is once again going back on the campaign promises it made to restore asylum, which is a recognized legal right in the US and globally," said Ally Ntumba, Refugee Congress Delegate for Indiana. 

“Instead of restoring the asylum system, the Biden administration says they are proud to see 90% drop of Venezuelans encountered at the border since establishing the program last October,” said Ali Aljundi, Membership Engagement and Leadership Development Manager. 

“We all are human beings and deserve to be given the same protection without discrimination,” said Matilda Sawie, Refugee Congress Delegate for Pennsylvania. “Expanding the use of Title 42 to expel asylum-seekers from Cuba, Haiti, and Nicaragua in addition to continued expulsions of asylum-seekers from Venezuela while making the asylum process easier for other populations is discriminatory. All forcibly displaced people deserve equal access to seek safety in the US.”

“I applaud President Biden's effort to recognize that people will always come to our shores. He cited his own family coming to America seeking brighter life for them and their future members of the families. It is with this understanding that we must work with the families on our border – with compassion, empathy and kindness,” said Clara Hart, former President of Refugee Congress. “Being overly aggressive is not a path we should follow. These barriers to those seeking asylum notably affect people from poor countries, ethnicities who have been historically discriminated against, and who are presumed to not have any economic value.”

Title 42 cannot continue to be a mainstay of US immigration policy. The continuation of Title 42 sends people seeking asylum back to violence, torture, and other persecution. The Biden administration must use the US’s ample capacity and resources to repair and improve humane asylum pathways rather than continue to propose band-aid measurements that penalize people who believe they will find safety once they reach our border. 

###