Hopeful signs at border as end of Title 42 witnessed without chaos and cruelty towards asylum seekers

A delegation of prominent national civil and immigrant rights leaders led by the Haitian Bridge Alliance visited locations in the Texas Rio Grande Valley and the Mexican state of Tamaulipas to bear witness to the end of Title 42 and the implementation of a number of punitive policies along the border. The delegation included leaders and experts from the ACLU, Amnesty International, Human Rights First, NILC, NIJC, Tahirih Justice Center, UndocuBlack Network, and the #WelcomeWithDignity campaign for asylum rights. The end of Title 42 was a chance for President Biden to put our country on the right side of history. However, the delegation observed that the new policies implemented by the Biden administration are rooted in violence and abuse instead of compassion.

## A Continuation of Inhumane Policies

Guerline Jozef, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Haitian Bridge Alliance, noted that the new restrictive asylum ban policy from the Biden administration will force asylum seekers to wait for months or years in extremely vulnerable conditions in camps in Mexico, where they are prone to kidnapping and abuse. This situation provides an opportunity for human smugglers and other ill-intentioned entities to take advantage of them. Furthermore, Black and indigenous people will continue to suffer and even be killed as they endure dangerous and inhumane conditions while waiting to seek protection in the United States.

Many of the asylum seekers that the delegation met with had been stranded in Reynosa and Matamoros by the Title 42 policy and will now be left stranded in highly dangerous and difficult conditions by the new asylum bar’s restrictions. In these areas, the level of violence and danger is so severe that the U.S. State Department advises that they are too dangerous for Americans to visit. Recent reports of escalated cartel violence make the areas even more dangerous for asylum seekers, migrants, and humanitarian workers.

## Deprivation of Human Rights

Deirdre Schifeling, national political director at the ACLU, observed that parents and small children fleeing violence have no other choice but to wait for months in extremely unsanitary and dangerous camps for an appointment they can never get. The delegation witnessed a humanitarian disaster, and Schifeling believes that the Biden administration must act. She stressed that our country is better than this and that we must fight to ensure our country lives up to its own laws, values, and history of being a beacon of hope and freedom for people fleeing persecution, violence, war, and human rights violations.

Mary Meg McCarthy, Executive Director of the National Immigrant Justice Center, underscored that the U.S. immigration system fails to protect those who come to our borders in search of safety. She believes that this has been true under Title 42 and will likely only get worse in the days ahead with the new asylum ban. This new policy will inevitably result in migrants with credible claims for asylum being turned away and sent back to dangerous, sometimes life-threatening situations.

## Urgent Action and Investment Required

The delegation urgently calls for the Biden administration to uphold asylum and due process, rescind its new asylum ban, and welcome people with dignity and respect for human rights and racial justice. It calls for a humane border policy that focuses on increased communication, coordination, and support for humanitarian aid, shelter, and reception at the border and in destination communities.

The delegation met with community, faith-based, humanitarian, shelter, legal, and other organizations, groups, and volunteers working in tremendously challenging situations with a significant lack of resources struggling to provide humanitarian aid to people seeking asylum in the United States. The delegation witnessed the astounding commitment and work performed by these individuals and organizations and their willingness to work with U.S. agencies and communities to ensure the U.S. upholds its human rights commitments to welcome with dignity people fleeing persecution and violence.

In light of these observations, it is essential for the U.S. government to invest in the ability to welcome people with dignity and not just replace one inhumane border policy for another. Seeking safety is a legal and human right, and the Biden administration must restore full and fair access to asylum immediately for everyone who comes to America seeking freedom and safety.

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