Title 42
President Biden spent a scant one minute of his seventy-two minute SOTU address on this issue, which affects the lives of millions. His modest remarks (“If we don’t pass my comprehensive immigration reform, at least pass my plan to provide the equipment and officers to secure the border and a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, those on temporary status, farm workers, essential workers”) were totally countered by touting his recent policy shift, intended to dramatically cut the number of Haitian, Cuban, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan migrants crossing into the United States. That's right: deny entry to migrants and asylum seekers from the poorest country in the hemisphere and from three sovereign nations upon we have imposed illegal sanctions or embargoes or both.
The change is an expansion of Title 42, a pandemic policy first used by the Trump administration to curb immigration. Title 42 is still in effect thanks to a Republican state attorneys-general appeal to the Supreme Court, which in a 5-4 ruling ordered that Title 42 remain in place while it determines whether the states may challenge the lower courts’ decision.
Family Separation
Under the Trump administration, a policy was enacted that resulted in the separation of thousands of children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, causing permanent emotional and psychological damage to innocent families seeking refuge. The Trump Administration's family separation policy was one of the darkest moments in the history of U.S. border policy. Trump is gone, and Biden has rescinded Trump's policy, but for nearly 1,000 families, it’s still happening.
The number of families impacted is staggering. The Department of Homeland Security recently reported that as many as 3,924 children were taken from their families as part of the crackdown on border crossings. While many have been brought back together, right now, thousands of families are still torn apart and at least 998 children are still waiting to be reunited with their families.
Although President Biden rescinded Trump's abhorrent policy, the job will not be complete until all the remaining separated children are reunited with their families. The Administration must finish the job.
Dreamers in Limbo
In July 2021, a federal judge in Texas blocked an Obama-era program, which protected undocumented immigrants who arrived in the US as children from deportation (DACA), halting the program’s ability to accept new applicants and once again throwing the lives of more than 600,000 people once again into tumult. A subsequent appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.by the Biden Administration was rejected in October 2o22. A short history of how we got to this point is in the sidebar.
Two "Dream Acts" currently languish in the divided Congress - the House's American Dream and Promises Act of 2021 and the Senate's bipartisan (co-sponsored by Democrat Dick Durbin and Republican Lindsey Graham) Dream Act of 2023. They provide essentially the same protections and path to citizenship as did Obama's executive order.
It is difficult to see either bill passing in this session of Congress, even though they are supported by a significant majority of Americans. The House bill would have to be re-introduced in the House - something that Kevin McCarthy, who hangs on to the Speaker position at the behest of the extremist right wing of his party, is unlikely to do. The Senate bill would have to overcome a Republican filibuster and gain 8 Republican votes to pass, something this bipartisan measure has failed to do twice.
While some Dreamers, such as United We Dream [sidebar] continue the fight, others are moving to more welcoming countries. [sidebar]
So there you have it. Biden's expansion of Title 42, the Administration's inadequate efforts to reunite children with their families, and conservative judicial rulings coupled with Congressional inaction on protecting undocumented childhood arrivals have extended Trump immigration policies into the foreseeable future.
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door
This inscription on the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor now rings hollow. A country that was built by immigrants and that provided a haven for refugees is controlled by people unable to see the moral imperative of continuing that tradition.
Sources: KENS5, WOLA, Win Without War, The Regulatory Review, The Guardian,
