Washington, D.C. – Today, a Louisiana judge issued an order blocking President Biden’s end to the Trump-era, anti-immigrant policy Title 42. Since its implementation in March 2020, immigration officials have used Title 42 as an unjust excuse to expel nearly 1.8 million immigrants and asylum seekers from entering the country.
Juliana Macedo do Nascimento, Deputy Director of Federal Advocacyof United We Dream (UWD), said:
“Title 42 is a cruel and evil policy dreamt up by former President Trump and Stephen Miller to make it harder for Black and brown people to seek safety through asylum. Title 42 has been used to separate families, eviscerated our asylum system, and has led to the devastating treatment of people seeking asylum, including the whipping of Black Haitian migrants by Border Patrol last year. It is beyond time that Title 42 ended.
The language being used to defend Title 42 has dire consequences. We saw this in action earlier this month when a white supremacist, motivated by Republican’s parroting of the “Great Replacement Theory” killed 10 people, in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York. This is language that Republicans have used to paint immigrants, and Black and brown people in a negative light and have used to justify draconian immigration policies like Title 42.
Immigrant communities have demanded President Biden end policies like Title 42. People will always move, and we have a responsibility as a nation to live up to our values by providing a welcoming environment for people to seek asylum with dignity — no excuses. President Biden must follow through with his campaign promise to end Title 42, and Democrats in Congress must call out Republicans racist and dangerous “Great Replacement Theory” rhetoric about people seeking asylum.”
