Title 42 Is About Keeping Out Migrants, Not Protecting Americans
An End to Title 42
With a rapid decrease in COVID cases, the Biden administration finally announced on April 1st that the enforcement of Title 42, a migrant expulsion policy, will finally come to an end by May 23rd. With mounting pressure from conservatives to maintain this measure, it is imperative that the Biden administration holds true to its word of ending the enforcement of this evil practice.
What is Title 42?
This measure, while originally part of the US Public Health Service Act of 1944 to limit all migrants for public health concerns, has been used almost exclusively on migrants on the United States’ northern and southern borders since 2020. What it allows is the immediate expulsion of detainees from the country without them being processed under immigration law. Its claimed purpose is to protect the American public from the spread of COVID-19; however, this is embarrassingly disingenuous. This iteration of Title 42 began during the Trump administration and its enforcement was continued under Biden despite pressure from progressives to end the inhumane practice.
It Was Never Really About Public Health
We all know how negligent the Trump administration was about the pandemic. In his early response, he downplayed its impact, insinuating it was purposefully sent by China. When he finally acknowledged the seriousness of the situation, his response was too little, too late. Over 400,000 people died from the virus by the time Biden took office. While Trump left states to be mostly responsible for handling the pandemic, one of the first measures he took against COVID was the implementation of Title 42. Trump claimed that Title 42 would curb “mass uncontrolled cross-border movement.” While limiting the spread of the virus is still extremely important, this measure is merely a lazy excuse to expel unwanted migrants. This is evidenced by the fact that the reintroduction of Title 42 originated in the Department of Homeland Security and the Trump White House rather than from public health experts.
Epidemiologists and public health experts within both the Trump and Biden administrations have criticized this purely political manipulation of public-health policy. Since its inception, they have continued to call for Title 42 to be revoked. The CDC director under the Trump administration who signed the order, Robert Redfield, claimed that the U.S. Border Patrol and the Department of Homeland Security lacked the capacity to mitigate the spread of COVID throughout detainment facilities and safely process asylum seekers. This claim is baseless. The budget for Customs and Border Protection in 2021 was 17.7 billion dollars. Furthermore, we know what measures prevent the spread of COVID. The use and provision of masks, covid tests, good ventilation, social distancing, and the distribution of vaccines are enough so that asylum seekers and migrants can have their applications processed while still being safe. While we are able yet unwilling to protect these migrants from the threat of COVID, we are more than willing to return them to countries that don’t have the same public-health infrastructure necessary to aid them.
Dr. Michele Heisler, a professor here at the University of Michigan Medical School and School of Public Health as well as the Medical Director of Physicians for Human Rights stated that “We are profoundly disappointed that the Biden administration continues to disregard science in favor of a cruel and discriminatory policy that does nothing to safeguard public health and instead returns to danger men, women, and children who are doing nothing other than exercising their right to seek asylum.” Medical and public health experts like Dr. Heisler have refuted that this policy has any scientific basis. Even White House medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said that immigrants are “absolutely not” driving Covid-19 surge. Title 42 rather only gives credence to the bigoted idea that migrants are vectors of disease. This racist trope is amplified by the fact that Title-42 is only applied to migrants from the northern and southern borders of the United States. The bigoted nature of this policy is consistent with Trump’s continuous anti-immigrant rhetoric. Now, we must ask ourselves — why does such a policy still exist under an administration which has promised a “more fair, orderly, and humane” immigration system? Despite having relatively no backing from experts, the Biden administration has used the continued prevalence of COVID-19 as an excuse to uphold Title-42.
How these migrants and asylum seekers have been treated by our government is in direct contrast to how we are embracing refugees fleeing Ukraine with open arms. This is not to say that we should not accept Ukrainian refugees or diminish the immense hardships they are currently facing. It is only to call attention to our hypocrisy in what kind of immigrants and asylum seekers we are willing to accept. Biden recently announced the establishment of a new humanitarian program, Uniting for Ukraine, and pledged to accept up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees. He stated that the program will “provide an expedient channel for secure legal migration from Europe to the United States for Ukrainians who have a US sponsor, such as a family or an NGO.” I must be clear that this is absolutely a good thing that we as a country are doing. It does, however, show how easily the government can safeguard the rights of refugees. It’s time we treat all asylum seekers with the same respect and humanity that we have for the Ukrainian people fleeing danger.
Human Rights concerns
Just as refoulement of Ukrainian refugees would send them back to face immense danger and insecurity, the migrants who risked life and limb in search of a better life face considerable hardship when they return to their country of origin. Many of these people make great sacrifices just for the chance to be accepted here. They have been exploited, kidnapped, and abused on their journey to our southern border. We must acknowledge that sacrifice and treat them with humanity and respect. This is contingent on Title-42 being revoked and the asylum and migration applications actually being processed. As of now, refoulement under Title-42 has contributed to significant human suffering. It has meant the vanishing of opportunity and a return to dangerous environments where they might face persecution.
“Human Rights First has tracked over 8,705 reports of kidnappings and other violent attacks against migrants and asylum seekers blocked in and/or expelled to Mexico by the United States government.” While this report refers to migrants from countries included in the “Remain in Mexico” program, migrants from countries not within this program are directly flown back to their countries of origin and similarly face danger when they return. This is shown by the discriminatory treatment of Haitian migrants during the crisis in 2021 where mounted border patrol officers used their reins as whips against migrants attempting to cross the Rio Grande into Del Rio, Texas. Those Haitian migrants who were detained by Customs and Border Patrol were flown directly back to Haiti, despite many of these people not having lived in the country for years. Regardless of how migrants and asylum seekers are refouled, it only means continued suffering and insecurity.
Threats to uphold Title 42
While the Biden administration is finally planning on rolling Title-42 back by May 23rd, conservatives are pushing for the extension of this policy. Their claim began by pointing out that while this COVID policy is being rolled back, other mandates continue to exist. The disingenuousness of the people bringing forward these claims is all too clear. They don’t care about COVID, and they don’t want COVID policies or mandates either. It is solely an excuse to uphold a policy that limits the adherence to immigration law. Conservative states have even gone as far as to sue the administration over a claimed failure to “properly justify its decision to end Title 42.”
After the recent lifting of the mask mandate on public transportation, conservatives have shifted their talking points to be more focused on how much the expiration of Title 42 will affect the morale of Border Patrol officers. Fox is reporting that the morale of these officers is at “an all-time low.” This reframing of the issue further emphasizes how disingenuous these complaints are. Their motives are clear; they don’t want migrants who don’t look like them. They want an excuse not to follow immigration law with due diligence. Hiding behind excuses like public health and low morale is nothing but cowardly, and we must call it out as such.
After Title 42
Despite pressure from numerous states and conservatives, it is crucial that Biden continues with the planned ending of Title 42 so that immigration and asylum claims can be processed. Title-42 was not established with a genuine intent to protect us from COVID. It was merely an excuse to refuse certain people from entering the country. Not only has it not protected us at all, but it has actively worsened the lives of those seeking entry by placing them back in harm’s way. As Title-42 hopefully comes to a timely end, it is necessary that these migrants are treated compassionately and processed appropriately. We don’t have to choose between protecting our health and giving people the chance to migrate to the U.S. We can make our immigration system more humane than it was before Title-42. It only requires the political will of our administration.
