Biden Administration Extends Title 42 Policy

The US administration announced that it will extend the Title 42 policy, originally implemented in 2020 to reduce the level of unlawful entering to the US across the Mexican border due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This extension comes after the US Supreme Court blocked the imminent lifting of this policy. US President Joe Biden highlighted that these actions will improve the situation, but they are not enough to fix the “border completely.”

US Chief Justice John Roberts signed an order to uphold the lifting, maintaining Title 42 on track for nearly two years since the Biden administration inherited the policy, which was supposed to end on Dec. 21, 2022.

This policy has resulted in almost 2.5 million deportations since its implementation and over 150,000 returns so far, according to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The program originally capped migrants from Nicaragua, Cuba and Haiti to 30,000 returns to Mexican territory. However, in October 2022, Mexico also accepted Venezuelan migrants as part of a deal in which the Biden administration agreed to allow up to 24,000 Venezuelans to enter the US legally.

Title 42 has been heavily criticized by health organizations, human right groups and immigrant advocates. Humans Right First (HRF) published its “Human Rights Stain, Public Health Farce” in which the organization calls the Title 42 a” public health, border management and human rights fiasco.” The document shows that as of Dec. 15, 2022, there have 13,480 reports of murder, torture, kidnapping, rape and other attacks on migrants and asylum seekers under this policy since the Biden administration began. Only in 2022, the US-Mexico border registered the record high number of deaths since 1998.

“CBP and Border Patrol officers continue to use Title 42 to expel migrants and asylum seekers in ways that increase their vulnerability to danger and violent crime in Mexico. Some Border Patrol agents have failed to provide medical attention to people with injuries, carried out Title 42 expulsions in the middle of the night, and expelled migrants and asylum seekers without their personal belongings,” said HRF.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM), the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned that the extension of the Title 42 policies threaten the fundamental human right to seek asylum. The organizations “remain deeply concerned by the continuing restrictions on access to asylum experienced by people from many different nationalities at the US-Mexico border.”