Welcoming people fleeing persecution
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has announced the Title 42 public health order invoked by President Donald Trump two years ago to justify the expulsion of migrants at the border, even those seeking asylum, without due process, will end in May. It's long overdue, as Title 42's utility in containing the spread of COVID-19 has been dubious at best, while at the same time the policy has tangibly harmed asylum seekers in particular.
“After considering current public health conditions and an increased availability of tools to fight COVID-19 (such as highly effective vaccines and therapeutics), the CDC Director has determined that an Order suspending the right to introduce migrants into the United States is no longer necessary,” the agency announced.
That's been true for a while now and there was never any evidence that the application of Title 42 did anything, especially considering that other lawful forms of travel have opened up for some time now.
“The danger with Title 42 is it creates and feeds the rhetoric which suggests that migrants are the vectors here, and there is really no evidence to suggest that and it's unlikely that that's the case,” warned Monette Zard, the director of the Program on Forced Migration and Health at Columbia University's School of Public Health, in Time magazine.
The end of Title 42 is welcome, but tragically comes too late to undo the damage done to migrants with goodfaith reasons for seeking asylum.
According to the Washington Post, over 1.7 million migrants have been expelled under the order over the last two years, mostly under the Biden administration.
Last month, the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals noted “the record is replete with stomach-churning evidence of death, torture and rape” facing migrants expelled under Title 42.
It was also reported earlier this year that the Biden administration was hypocritically deporting asylum seekers from Venezuela.
“The recent reports of the Biden administration removing Venezuelans through third countries is extremely disturbing,” said Sen. Bob Menendez, D-New Jersey, in February.
“By continuing to use a page from Trump's immigration enforcement playbook, this administration is turning its back on the immigrants who need our protection the most.“
Indeed, then-candidate Biden condemned President Trump in 2020 for having
“no regard for the suffering of the Venezuelan people” by deporting Venezuelans.
But, alas, President Biden did the same as Trump, with no regard for those fleeing socialist tyranny.
By ending the functionally useless and practically harmful Title 42, the United States can finally return to being the refuge of those in need of help.
While nativists will complain that the U.S. doesn't have the resources to provide sanctuary to people fleeing persecution, violence and tyranny, our history as a nation shows that such claims are pure nonsense.
The United States not only can but should continue to take a leading role in serving as a place of refuge.