What You Need to Know:
The Biden administration is expected to announce Friday that a controversial immigration policy will be lifted in about two months. Implemented by the Trump administration, under Title 42 of their immigration policy, the U.S. is allowed to expel migrants without hearing their cases, based upon public health.
The Associated Press reported the asylum-blocking powers of the Centers for Disease Control is up for renewal this week. “Officials were expected to announce as early as Friday that it would be terminated, giving border authorities a few months to prepare for the coming deadline.”
The elimination of Title 42 is expected on or around May 23.
Title 42 was named for a 1944 public health law to prevent communicable disease. The limits were put into effect in March 2020 during the Trump administration. News reports identified Trump adviser Stephen Miller as the lead in the implementation of Title 42. Although officials said it was a way to keep Covid-19 out of the U.S., critics charged the restrictions were an opportunity for the Trump administration to close the borders to migrants, for reasons that had little to do with the coronavirus.
Since Title 42 was put into place, immigration activists report the government has misused the health order to kick out people seeking asylum more than 1.7 million times.
Why You Need to Know:
Clearly, the Trump administration’s Title 42 policy is about racism. Public health concern was the reason for shutting borders, but immigration activists and public health officials were skeptical from the beginning.
As officials have announced 100,000 White Ukrainians will be allowed to enter the U.S., the same must hold for Black and Brown immigrants seeking asylum, especially those we saw standing in the miles-long lines last summer, and chased like escaped slaves by bounty hunters.
Donald Trump and Stephen Miller may have failed to recognize the poem at the Statue of Liberty, most likely seen by their ancestors:
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
But a promise is a promise, no matter where asylum seekers begin their journeys, and especially without regard for the color of their skin.