Biden asked to repeal policy that allows rapid deportation of immigrants

Miami, 24 Mar Congressmen and activists asked US President Joe Biden on Thursday to completely repeal the immigration policy that allows the automatic deportation of undocumented immigrants detained at the border, considering it an “anti-immigrant” measure.
In a teleconference, Florida federal congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick said that the application of Title 42 of the Public Health Safety Act, which allows the immediate deportation of asylum seekers, effectively denies the “due process of thousands of immigrants” who have been detained at the country’s southern border.
Cherfilus-McCormick referred to the exemption from this measure imposed by President Biden’s Administration for unaccompanied undocumented minors and, recently, for Ukrainian refugees.
“It is imperative for me that everyone has the same rights,” said the Democratic legislator, the daughter of Haitians who emigrated to the United States and who, after a special election in January of this year, won the vacant seat due to the death of legislator Alcee Hastings.
Title 42 was applied by the Government of former President Donald Trump (2017-2021) as a measure to contain the infections of covid-19, but, as legislators and activists said today, the measure contravenes international standards on asylum and basic rights under US laws.
“It is very difficult to maintain a moral stance” if Title 42 is maintained, said Florida Congresswoman Dotie Joseph, who confessed that it “breaks her heart” to see the “damage” done to immigrant families.
The Democrat criticized the fact that the Biden government maintains Title 42 despite opposing opinions given by health professionals, experts in the defense of minors and human rights groups around a policy that, Joseph said, has “zero” hold in science.
His colleague in the Florida Congress Marie Woodson noted that many experts have considered Title 42 to be applied disproportionately to expel Latinos, Haitians and black undocumented immigrants in general.
“Haiti has suffered so many crises, it’s not just poverty, it’s the instability of the country,” he said, after calling for the expulsion of undocumented immigrants from the Caribbean nation, from where a wave of migration has been unleashed towards the US in recent months.
Immigration and civil law lawyer Ira Kurzban said on the teleconference that Title 42 has more of a political purpose, adding that “it is not a health measure or has anything to do with covid.”
“There is no reason to imprison people who come to our borders to seek asylum,” he regretted.
This Thursday’s request comes the day after a coalition of 87 organizations sent a letter to President Biden’s Administration calling for the end of Title 42, which at this point puts the trust placed in the current government at risk.
“In early June 2021, some reports indicated that the Administration was considering lifting the policy to families and adults towards the end of that summer. These plans seem to have been abandoned,” wrote the signatories of the letter, coordinated by the Haitian Bridge Alliance and Immigration Hub groups. CHIEF
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