A woman from Ukraine walks with her children as they arrive in the United States, Thursday, March 10, 2022, from Tijuana, Mexico. US authorities allowed the woman and her three children to apply for asylum on Thursday, a reversal from a day earlier when she was denied entry.
Gregory Bull / AP
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Gregory Bull / AP
A woman from Ukraine walks with her children as they arrive in the United States, Thursday, March 10, 2022, from Tijuana, Mexico. US authorities allowed the woman and her three children to apply for asylum on Thursday, a reversal from a day earlier when she was denied entry.
Gregory Bull / AP
A woman fleeing Ukraine with her three young children attempted to cross the border between Tijuana and San Diego earlier this week – only to be denied entry under pandemic border restrictions.
Yesterday, US immigration authorities softened, allowing this family to enter and apply for asylum.
But immigration advocates say their story highlights the brutality of the restrictions put in place by the Trump administration at the beginning of the pandemic.
“The fact that we’re using COVID as an excuse to stop asylum seekers at this point in time, it’s become increasingly common,” said Blaine Bookey, an attorney at the Center for Gender & Refugees. unreasonable and unacceptable to the government”. The study, who are representing the Ukrainian family.
For more than a year, the Biden administration has been rapidly deporting migrants at the southern border under a controversial public health order called Title 42 — despite repeated calls from Democratic lawmakers and immigration advocates to end the Trump-era policy.
Those calls grew louder this week as Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s invasion of their country began arriving at the US-Mexico border and a pair of court rulings on Title 42. has put more pressure on the Biden administration to make a decision about their future.
“This is not who we are as a nation,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on a call with reporters on Thursday. “Continuing this Trump-era policy has defied common sense and courtesy. Now is the time to stop the madness.”
A US Border Patrol agent handles a group of migrants in Sunland Park, New Mexico. Democratic lawmakers and immigration advocates are urging President Biden to end Title 42 border restrictions.
Paul Ratje / AFP via Getty Images
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Paul Ratje / AFP via Getty Images
A US Border Patrol agent handles a group of migrants in Sunland Park, New Mexico. Democratic lawmakers and immigration advocates are urging President Biden to end Title 42 border restrictions.
Paul Ratje / AFP via Getty Images
When Title 42 began nearly two years ago, immigration authorities used a policy of quickly deporting all migrants they encountered – without giving them a chance to claim refugee protection. accident or other protections under United States law.
Soon after taking office, the Biden administration waived the policy for unaccompanied immigrant children. It has also allowed many migrant families to apply for asylum in the US
For a while, the Biden administration talked to immigrant advocates about ending Title 42 but dropped that intention because of a spike in the number of migrants apprehensive at the border. record level last year.
Instead, the Biden administration upheld Title 42 and defended it in court as necessary to prevent the spread of COVID -19. Immigration authorities have continued to enforce policy on single adults and some families, deporting migrants more than a million times since Biden took office.
The Department of Homeland Security emphasizes that Title 42 is a public health measure, not an immigration policy. DHS said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention decided when the order would be lifted, and no such decision has been made yet.
The latest order from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expires in early April. But immigration hardliners warn that lifting Title 42 restrictions now could lead to another spike in migrant concerns this summer.
However, the Biden administration is under increasing pressure to end the policy due to several court rulings.
First, a panel of the DC Circuit of Appeals ruled that authorities could not use Title 42 to return migrant families to places where they could face abuse or torture. .
Judge Justin Walker, a Trump appointee, writing on behalf of the three-judge panel, wrote: “The CDC’s order looks like a relic from an era of no vaccines, scarce testing, few methods treatment and with little certainty”.
Immigrant advocates hailed the ruling as a victory because it suggested that all migrants should be screened and given the opportunity to seek protection in the United States.
In the second case, a federal judge in Texas ruled that the Biden administration acted arbitrarily in its decision to grant Title 42 waivers to unaccompanied immigrant children.
Look to the future
All of this could force authorities to begin deporting unaccompanied children as soon as Saturday, immigration advocates say.
Again, it’s unclear how this will work in practice, as authorities in Mexico and other countries may refuse to accept unaccompanied minors.
The Biden administration could still decide to appeal one or both of those rulings. But Democratic and immigrant advocates say there is a better option: removing Title 42 altogether.
“We have come a long way since March 2020, when Title 42 was first announced,” US Representative Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-CA) said on a call with reporters. yesterday.
With vaccines readily available and mask regulations now lifted in most of the country, Barragán says it’s increasingly difficult to argue that these border restrictions are protecting public health.
“She said it did not prevent COVID-19 from leaving the United States. It only prevents the most vulnerable from finding safety. “
Supporters say the Biden administration has deported tens of thousands of migrants back to Haiti and other countries where their lives could be at risk.
“We are asking for Title 42 to be revoked and welcome to everyone, whether they are from Ukraine, Haiti, Cameroon, Central America,” said Guerline Jozef, executive director of the Haitian Bridge Coalition.
That includes the Ukrainian woman who applied for asylum this week in California. Her attorneys say that the 34-year-old mother, who requested to be identified only as Sofiia, is trying to reach her family members who are US citizens living in California.
Blaine Bookey said she happened to be in Tijuana to work with Haitian migrants who were also seeking asylum in the US when she noticed Sofiia and her children near the port of entry.
Blaine Bookey said: “We are extremely happy for Sofiia and her family that she will have the opportunity to find safety. “But at the same time, it’s not hard for families to find safety.”
Immigration lawyers in Tijuana say they have seen many Ukrainian families gather outside the border crossing this week, hoping that they will also have the opportunity to apply for asylum.
