Welcoming Migrants and Asylum Seekers With Dignity
By: Sophia Genovese / NMILC Senior Attorney
Seeking asylum is a fundamental human right. Unfortunately, for the last several years, the U.S. government has abandoned its international obligations to migrants and asylum seekers by implementing the so-called Migrant Protection Protocols (“MPP”) and continuing expulsions under the presumed public health authority under 42 US Code 265 (“Title 42”). Although Title 42 will be phased out by May 23, 2022, the Administration will continue to enroll migrants and asylum seekers in MPP, subjecting immigrants to extreme cruelty and denying due process.
TITLE 42
Title 42 began in March 2020 by the Trump Administration, and has been relied upon by the Biden Administration over the past year. The policy presumes public health authority in Title 42, permitting the rapid expulsion of migrants and asylum seekers at the southern border who are deemed to be ‘high risk’ for spreading communicable diseases. Immigrant rights advocates have warned that this policy is a pretext for the prior and current administration’s xenophobia and racism towards BIPOC migrants and asylum seekers.
The government has invoked Title 42 over 1.7 million times, expelling hundreds of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers over the past two years. These expulsions continue to occur despite ports of entry along the southern border and airports being open to visitors and other travelers.
Public health officials have repeatedly found that Title 42 does little to nothing to stop the spread of COVID-19 in the United States. Instead, by expelling migrants and asylum seekers back into dangerous situations, individuals are subjected to homelessness and/or reliance on overcrowded shelters, thus creating conditions which maximize the spread of COVID-19. Worse, migrants and asylum seekers have been subjected to physical and sexual assault, kidnapping, robbery, and other violence since being denied entry. Human Rights First documented nearly 10,000 instances of such abuse as a result of expulsion under Title 42.
For the past year, the Biden Administration has refused to rescind Title 42. Finally, on March 4, 2022 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit found Title 42 expulsions to be unlawful without first determining whether the individuals being expelled would be tortured or persecuted. On March 12, 2022, the CDC rescinded Title 42 as it pertains to unaccompanied migrant children.
On April 1, 2022, the CDC announced that it will end the use of Title 42 for all migrants and asylum seekers beginning on May 23, 2022. Although this is a welcomed first step in the right direction, advocates remain fearful of an injunction in the recently filed lawsuit by Arizona, Louisiana, and Missouri calling for continuation of the policy.
Moreover, NMILC and other immigration advocates remain extremely concerned that migrants and asylum seekers will continue to be subject to MPP, immigration detention, or carceral surveillance once Title 42 expulsions end. NMILC calls on the Biden Administration to welcome migrants and asylum seekers with dignity, and discontinue the use of carceral policies that are in flagrant violation of our international obligations.
Migrant ‘Protection’ Protocols (MPP)
MPP was first implemented by the Trump Administration in December 2018. Over the past several years since MPP’s implementation, the government has forced nearly 70,000 migrants and asylum seekers back to Mexico while their removal, or immigration court, proceedings were pending.
MPP has been plagued with problems from the start. Many individuals have been subjected to extreme violence, homelessness, and poverty while forced to remain in Mexico. Thousands of others never received notice of their immigration court hearings or were prevented from accessing the border the day of their hearing, causing their applications for asylum or other protection to be denied. For those who have overcome incredible barriers to reaching the US immigration courts on their court dates, the vast majority go unrepresented in their proceedings.
MPP ensures the denial of protection to asylum seekers and is a clear violation of the United States international obligations under the Refugee Convention and Protocol. Indeed, by December 2020, of the over 42,000 individuals in MPP whose immigration court cases had been completed, only 521 people received protection – approximately one percent. This is compared to a national asylum grant rate of approximately thirty-seven percent for the FY2021.
The Biden Administration initially rescinding the MPP policy, rightfully allowing thousands of noncitizens to enter the US while their cases were pending. However, the Administration resumed MPP after a federal district court judge in Texas ordered the Department of Homeland Security to reinstate the program. The Supreme Court declined to enjoin the decision while litigation is pending. The Biden Administration has not announced any new policies which would ensure migrants’ and asylum seekers’ safety, access to counsel, and due process.
Most recently, white Ukrainian and Russian asylum seekers have been permitted entry into the US via the southern border, whereas Black, indigenous, Latinx, and other people of color continue to be denied such treatment. We call on this Administration to welcome all migrants and asylum seekers, regardless of race or ethnicity, with dignity and permit them unrestricted entry into the US to seek protection and other relief.
Sophia Genovese is a Senior Attorney with the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center.
Edited by Flaviano Graciano, Communications Manager
Photograph by Lydia Philips, Communications Specialist
