We need a plan for humane immigration after Title 42 ends

On May 11, the pandemic public health emergency will end and with it, the use of Title 42. 

While the Trump administration launched Title 42 as a “temporary” measure to supposedly prevent the spread of COVID-19, it was used instead as a blunt enforcement tool to expel migrants, including families, children and legitimate asylum seekers from the United States. Sadly, Title 42 will leave much human suffering in its wake, and yet, it has not strengthened our asylum system or border management.  

Latinos, like all Americans, expect that our government will effectively manage our borders and thoroughly vet those who seek to enter as refugees, to join family or for work. Our community does not support open borders, nor do we tolerate seeing children in danger, families separated and detained or people suffering. We want a functioning immigration system that is humane, efficient and secure. 

The federal government has taken some constructive steps that help ease the strain on the border. The Biden administration has moved to restore public and private partnerships to stimulate investments, job growth and community stability in Central America. Such regional cooperation gets in front of what drives people to leave their countries in the first place. We also support the administration’s parole program, which allows migrants from certain countries to come legally to the U.S. for humanitarian reasons. This eases the amount of vetting that happens on our southern border; it’s also far safer for people to come with a visa than a smuggler. 

These efforts still fall short, however, of addressing our border challenges, much less when Title 42 ends. Aware of this, the Biden administration proposed an asylum rule that would encourage people to seek refuge closer to home and to enter the U.S. at our southern border with an appointment using a smartphone app. 

While UnidosUS supports such efforts to help refugees avoid the dangerous journey north or to enter the U.S. in a legal and orderly manner, we strongly oppose the asylum rule.  

The heart of our objections to the Biden asylum policy is that what the administration touts as incentives will in fact significantly limit access to asylum. The rule, paired with the Department of Homeland Security’s plan to swiftly expel migrants under Title 8 and to deploy 1,500 troops on the border, will result in denying refuge to the most vulnerable migrants, including families with children. It’s also unclear if the incentives will work. Ongoing monitoring is needed to ensure meaningful access to asylum in transit countries and vigorous improvements of the CBP One app are critical, given its reported and significant problems. In the end, refugees will be returned to life-threatening danger in their home countries and this is the asylum rule’s fatal flaw. 

While there are no quick fixes to the humanitarian challenges on our southern border — thanks to restrictionists in Congress who have obstructed bipartisan immigration reform for decades — there are solutions.

The Menendez Plan, proposed by Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) offers pragmatic and forward-looking solutions to manage migration and refugees in the Americas and secure our borders. Instead of severely limiting asylum access, the administration should invest deeper in hemispheric cooperation and further expand avenues for humanitarian migration. We also need to strengthen our asylum processes, which require an integrated system of multi-agency reception facilities, legal services and representation, trained adjudicators and well-resourced court proceedings that timely move asylum cases forward while protecting due process. 

For this, the government needs the resources. We call on Congress to fund the above-mentioned solutions to restore fairness to the asylum process, improve humanitarian conditions at the border and ensure communities have the resources they need to welcome newcomers. Doing so will provide a path forward for members of Congress serious about addressing the dire humanitarian situation on the border and  hold accountable anti-immigrant lawmakers who just want to take selfies there.  

President Biden took office after campaigning on a pledge to use more humane immigration policies than his predecessor. Creating incentives to reduce irregular migration, investing in border resources to respond to humanitarian migration and increasing funding for legal services and community-based organizations that support asylum seekers is the right approach and consistent with his promises. 

Janet Murguía is president and CEO at UnidosUS. 

Editor’s note: This piece was updated on May 4 at 1:54 p.m.