Migrants and asylum seekers deserve better
There is no other way of saying it. President Biden is only using Title 42 to expel asylum seekers from what former President Donald Trump called “s--hole countries.”
No one can say that’s not true when Biden is exempting Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion from the public health rule that Trump imposed in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The U.S. will take in some 100,000 Ukrainians with open arms.
Can anyone really imagine boarding all these Ukrainians in airplanes and flying them back to their country under siege?
Of course not.
That would be inhumane and against international law.
Why is it OK, then, to do exactly the same thing to Haitians, for instance, who also face brutality and even death? Why do the same thing to Central Americans or to Africans fleeing violence?
We can’t ignore the obvious any longer.
Biden has expelled more than 1.7 million migrants and asylum seekers under Title 42. Many of them are Black Haitians fleeing the island’s violent political turmoil, as well as poor Central Americans and Africans fleeing violence.
The U.S. didn’t even give these people the chance to make their case for asylum under the now false pretense that they would spread the virus that causes COVID-19.
But are we to believe that Ukrainians pose no health risks just because they’re white Europeans?
Earlier this month, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reminded its staff in a memo obtained by Politico that they are permitted to make exceptions, including for Ukrainian nationals.
How convenient, right?
To be sure, the U.S. is not required to welcome anyone who wants to come. It’s not about opening the border to everyone, as Republicans claim.
It’s simply about giving all asylum seekers the same chance to make their case, not play favorites based on our own biases and preference.
Biden has a chance to make things right.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — the agency that invoked Title 42 in 2020 — is expected to decide this week whether to extend the health order for another 60 days.
Biden must instruct the CDC to end Title 42. Most pandemic-related restrictions don’t exist anymore. And the U.S. is ready to exempt 100,000 Ukrainians refugees from that rule – that’s more than the number of refugees it accepts from all countries combined in a typical year.
Remember the outrage Democrats spewed when Trump in 2018 referred to Haiti, African and Central American nations as “s---hole” countries?
Remember how Democrats joined the chorus calling Trump “racist” for those comments?
Are Democrats any better than Trump, though? This isn’t a rhetorical question. It’s a political reality that Democrats must now reckon with.