Washington, D.C. – Despite President Biden’s promise to stop deportations, his administration has deported over 300,000 people since late January and largely under a Trump-era policy known as Title 42. As President Biden approaches his first 100 days in office this week, immigrant youth demand he follows through with his commitments to end further trauma and injustice inflicted upon our communities by stopping all deportations, delivering citizenship for millions this year, and signing the Breathe Act into law.
Cynthia Garcia, National Campaigns Manager for Community Protection of United We Dream, said:
“The onus is on President Biden to step up at this moment and stop ICE and CBP from carrying out any more deportations. President Biden and the Department of Homeland Security must be reminded that their inaction to protect vulnerable immigrant communities seeking refuge in the U.S. is not only putting lives on the line; it upholds a white nationalist immigration system that seeks to expel and keep Black and brown immigrants out at any cost.
Title 42 was designed under one of the most anti-immigrant administrations in modern history. Time and again, the Trump administration found every opportunity to ostracize and harm Black and brown immigrant communities, from implementing the Muslim ban to carrying out thousands of forced family separations. The continued mass deportations of Black and brown communities, especially Black immigrants from Haiti, that are happening under Biden’s watch are these same white nationalist policies at work.
Reflecting on his time as Vice President, President Biden acknowledged that the Obama administration was wrong in deporting over 2.5 million people and vowed to never make that mistake again when he took office. President Biden is well on track to repeat history. Now, he must make a choice: repeat the mistakes of the Obama administration or do everything in his power to end the cruelty of detentions, expulsions, and deportations and show that he is a President of his word.”
