Title 42 By Another Name? Biden Admin Must Reject Harmful Anti-Asylum Proposals and Fulfill Promises to Keep Families Together

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Wednesday, November 30, 2022 

Media Contact: media@theyoungcenter.org  

Washington D.C.— Just two weeks after a federal judge ordered the Biden administration to end Title 42 and ruled the policy is “arbitrary and capricious,” news has surfaced that the administration is now considering taking “drastic measures” to address an expected increase of people seeking safety at the border after Title 42 ends. Per Axios' exclusive reporting, these measures include continuing to bar some asylum seekers from entering the U.S. and increasing prosecutions of migrants at the border. 

Mary Miller Flowers, Senior Policy Analyst at the Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights, said: 

"Title 42 has always been a violation of U.S. and international law; replacing it with other practices that criminalize or expel people seeking asylum will have the same dangerous outcomes as Title 42, including family separation. 

The Young Center has worked with many children separated from family under Title 42 and their trauma is undeniable and painful to witness. To even consider practices that would continue this harm is a deep betrayal of the Biden administration's promise to protect families.  

We expect the federal government to be prepared for increased arrivals at the border after so many people were unlawfully turned away for the last three years. This preparation requires humane border reception policies—any new policies that present parents with the impossible ‘choice’ to send their children to the border alone to protect them is simply Title 42 by another name. The Biden administration must fulfill its promise to end Title 42, keep families together, and restore access to asylum—and accept the short-term consequences of taking so long to end a policy that should have never been enacted in the first place." 

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The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights is a non-profit organization that protects and advances the rights and best interests of immigrant children and advocates for an immigration system that treats children as children first. For press inquiries, please contact Anabel Mendoza at amendoza@theyoungcenter.org