SOUTHERN BORDER — It’s been one year since the Trump Administration began misusing Title 42 to block and expel people seeking safety at our southern border. This harmful, and possibly illegal, use of Title 42 continues to this day under the Biden Administration, with no basis as to the efficacy of its implementation in keeping people safe.
In fact, public health experts have stated there is no evidence to justify turning away families and individuals seeking safety under the guise of public health concerns. Yet, this Trump-era policy is still being upheld by the Biden administration. It is time to leave behind the harmful policies that have manufactured a humanitarian crisis at the border.
Ricky Garza, Staff Attorney at the Texas Civil Rights Project based in McAllen, TX said:
The United States has the capacity to protect people seeking safety at our borders, just as it has the capacity to undo the harm of cruel enforcement policies at the border. The Biden-Harris Administration must stop the use of Title 42. Expulsions only threaten the lives of individuals who are exercising the rights they already have under the law and do nothing to protect "public health."
Johana Bencomo, Executive Director for NM Comunidades en Acción y de Fé (CAFé) said:
“The Title 42 expulsions have continued now well into the Biden Administration. These expulsions should have ended on day one. Good border governance only happens when our elected leaders make informed and data-driven decisions, but Title 42 expulsions are based in the racist border policy of the previous administration, with no evidence to justify turning away people seeking safety under the guise of public health concerns. It's time for a New Border Vision that creates a responsible, humane border governance model, and ends the life-threatening tactics of the past.”
Alba Jaramillo, Executive Director of Arizona Justice For Our Neighbors said:
“As long as Title 42 is still in effect, the United States is truly not open for asylum. Many of the asylum seekers we work with have been waiting in Nogales for over a year for the opportunity to request asylum. They are losing hope and contemplating returning home at risk of losing their lives, or attempting to cross through the desert where unknown dangers await them. We worry for their safety and call on the administration to reopen the border swiftly and allow asylum seekers due process.”
Pedro Rios, Director of the American Friends Service Committee’s U.S./Mexico Border Program said:
“President Biden must rescind Title 42, a Trump-era policy meant to exploit the pandemic under a false pretense of protecting public health, and that arbitrarily gives border agents power to expel migrants from the United States, thereby undermining their due process rights. President Biden’s continued application of Title 42 extends Trump’s dangerous campaign of targeting the most vulnerable, instead of pursuing humanitarian solutions that could protect the human rights of those seeking asylum.”
ABOUT THE SOUTHERN BORDER COMMUNITIES COALITION
The Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC) brings together organizations from San Diego, California to Brownsville, Texas, to ensure that border enforcement policies and practices are accountable and fair, respect human dignity and human rights, and prevent the loss of life in the region.