On Friday, a federal court decided that the U.S. can no longer use a restrictive immigration rule first invoked by the Trump administration to expel families to countries where they may face persecution or torture, but still allowed the rule to stay in place.
The ruling, handed down from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, said that the supposed public health rule known as Title 42 “cannot expel [families] to places where they will be persecuted or tortured.” Families will now be given a chance to express their fears of being expelled to immigration officials, which most families couldn’t do before.
However, the ruling still allows the Biden administration to expel families that judges or asylum officers determine aren’t facing persecution or torture, as well as single adults, who have made up the majority of deportations under Title 42.
The Biden administration’s use of Title 42, which allows officials to deport asylum seekers under the guise of public health, have come under scrutiny from immigration advocates and even people within the administration. They say that President Joe Biden’s use of the policy, especially its use in deporting thousands of Haitian asylum seekers, is inhumane and potentially illegal.
Despite outcry from progressives in his party, Biden has decided to keep the policy in place and has deported more people under the rule than Donald Trump did. Despite the fact that Haiti is already designated by the Department of Homeland Security as a country that is unsafe for people to return to, the Biden administration has sent asylum seekers back to the country en masse.
Friday’s ruling upheld the restrictive policy, but questioned whether or not it should be revoked because it “looks in certain respects like a relic from an era with no vaccines, scarce testing, few therapeutics and little certainty.”
Progressive and Democratic lawmakers have been urging Biden to end the use of Title 42. On Saturday, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Massachusetts) wrote, “This is an important victory in our fight to #EndTitle42, which has been weaponized against Black & brown migrants for far too long. It’s time for [Biden] to center the dignity and humanity of *all* migrants and that starts with ending Title 42.”
After Friday’s ruling, Biden administration officials gathered to discuss stopping the use of Title 42 altogether, according to the New York Times. It’s unclear if the administration has made a decision on the matter.
In February, a group of over 100 House representatives sent a letter to Biden urging him to end the use of Title 42 and other inhumane immigration policies that are often disproportionately used against Black migrants.
“Our country has a long history of inhumane treatment of Black migrants, which is particularly evident in the historic mistreatment of Haitians,” the lawmakers wrote. “It is time to undo the United States’ draconian immigration policies, particularly policies introduced under the Trump Administration, such as the use of Title 42, that circumvent our humanitarian obligations.”
Indeed, while Haitian asylum seekers have been deported despite the fact that Haitians in the U.S. can qualify for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) because of political and infrastructural instability in their home country, the Biden administration recently halted deportations of undocumented immigrants from Ukraine. Immigration advocates have pointed out that this is a clear double standard as Haitians face cruelty from border agents and the government.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.