{"id":855541,"date":"2022-10-25T19:31:59","date_gmt":"2022-10-25T19:31:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/radiofree.asia\/?guid=3dba2f34494fa1622f536f545e021acf"},"modified":"2022-10-25T19:31:59","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T19:31:59","slug":"aoc-pressley-slam-biden-for-using-title-42-to-expel-venezuelan-asylum-seekers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/10\/25\/aoc-pressley-slam-biden-for-using-title-42-to-expel-venezuelan-asylum-seekers\/","title":{"rendered":"AOC, Pressley Slam Biden for Using Title 42 to Expel Venezuelan Asylum Seekers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Democrats and progressives are condemning the Biden administration for its continued use of Title 42, a cruel anti-immigration pandemic policy that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is now using to expel Venezuelan asylum seekers arriving at the southern U.S. border.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a letter with <\/span>24 signatories<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>spearheaded by<\/span><\/a> Rep. <\/span>Adriano Espaillat<\/span><\/a> (D-New York) and Sen. Bob Menendez (D-New Jersey), lawmakers criticized DHS\u2019s announcement, saying that the continued use of Title 42 is \u201cmorally wrong, discriminatory, and unlawful.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Expressing their \u201cprofound disappointment\u201d with the DHS decision, the lawmakers said that \u201cTitle 42 violates our nation\u2019s domestic and international legal obligations by placing asylum seekers at risk of extreme violence.\u201d The letter was signed by prominent progressive lawmakers like Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), Ayanna Pressley (D-Massachusetts) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan).<\/span><\/p>\n

The lawmakers wrote that the policy is racist, citing a report from a public health expert from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention saying that Title 42 is used \u201cto keep Hispanics out of the country.\u201d The lawmakers also pointed out that experts have said that the policy \u2014 which is supposedly being employed to stop the spread of COVID-19 \u2014 has no public health basis. <\/span><\/p>\n

Using Title 42 against Venezuelans is especially heinous, the lawmakers wrote, given that the administration itself has acknowledged the danger of sending people at the border back to Mexico, noting that it puts people at risk of kidnapping, sexual assault or death.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is critical that the Administration reassess the decision to implement Title 42 against Venezuelan asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border,\u201d the lawmakers continued. \u201cWe have a moral and legal responsibility to ensure that our immigration policies respect human rights and recognize the dignity of all human beings seeking refuge.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The letter echoes <\/span>one sent by<\/span><\/a> dozens of human rights organizations earlier this month, also urging DHS to reconsider the policy. \u201cDHS can and should take all legally permissible steps to restore access to asylum at ports of entry, regardless of the asylum seeker’s nationality or other factors, and to cease \u2014 not expand \u2014 Title 42 expulsions,\u201d reads the letter, which was signed by immigrant rights groups like Human Rights Watch and RAICES.<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier this month, <\/span>DHS announced<\/span><\/a> that it would be <\/span>expanding the use<\/span><\/a> of Title 42, a policy originally invoked by President Donald Trump that has been <\/span>used to deport<\/span><\/a> at least 1.8 million asylum seekers \u2014 including, infamously, <\/span>last year and early this year<\/span><\/a> when <\/span>DHS sent<\/span><\/a> over 20,000 Haitian asylum seekers to Haiti, despite the <\/span>danger<\/span><\/a>, violence and instability that some asylum seekers warned they would face there. <\/span><\/p>\n

The agency announced this time that it would be cracking down on <\/span>asylum seekers<\/span><\/a> from Venezuela, much to the dismay of immigrant rights advocates who have long contended that Title 42 is used to discriminate against non-white asylum seekers and should have been ended months, <\/span>if not years ago<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier this year, the <\/span>Biden administration announced<\/span><\/a> that it would be ending the use of Title 42 in May. But the move <\/span>was blocked<\/span><\/a> by a Trump-appointed judge, and the Biden administration is working on appealing the injunction.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although advocates lauded Biden\u2019s announcement that Title 42 would be ended, they also expressed frustration that the administration hadn\u2019t ended the policy far earlier.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although Biden <\/span>promised on the campaign trail<\/span><\/a> that he would end the policy in his first year in office, <\/span>he has actually ramped up<\/span><\/a> the use of the inhumane policy, expelling more asylum seekers during his first months in office than Trump ever did. The Biden administration is still expelling <\/span>tens of thousands<\/span><\/a> of asylum seekers each month, despite moving to end the policy.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on Latest - Truthout<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Democrats and progressives are frustrated that Biden officials are expanding Title 42 rather than ending it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1459,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4704,38427,8945,6168,1383,51,4,22949,59],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855541"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1459"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=855541"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":855542,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855541\/revisions\/855542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=855541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=855541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=855541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}