In an apparent reversal of previous announcements, the Biden administration kept a Trump-era directive using the pandemic to deport illegal migrants. Left-wing groups are suing.
Summary
The Biden administration is continuing a Trump era border restriction, invoking “Title 42” that gives officials the ability “to send migrants back to Mexico without the chance to seek asylum” under a public health directive related to the coronavirus pandemic.
- “Pro-migrant” organizations filed a lawsuit against the administration to overturn the order, citing it as “inhumane.”
- The order allows the United States to admit some families and children, yet it remains “widely used to expel single adults who seek to cross the border”, including more than half of those who tried to enter the United States illegally in June 2021.
- Mexico is reportedly refusing to accept non-Mexican families being deported from the United States under Title 42.
- Preliminary July figures show a possible all-time high in unaccompanied children attempting to cross the border, which is unusual because “crossings usually slow during” the summer months.
- While CNN’s coverage leaned heavily on liberal groups like the ACLU suing the Biden administration over the continuation of Title 42, their reporting admitted the “record numbers” of people attempting to cross the border illegally.
- The New York Times’ reporting called the continuation of the policy “a shift by the administration” in light of the new hysteria over the coronavirus’ delta variant, which the New York Times says “bolsters the argument” for Title 42.
- NPR quoted pro-immigrant activists as saying the delta variant is not a “basis for expelling people without a hearing”, and that “the country is in a much better position” regarding coronavirus than under the Trump administration.
- Newsmax interviewed former Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli who believed the Biden administration’s early immigration moves were a “calculated decision” to increase their voter base and that he does not expect Title 42 to be kept in place much longer.
- Breitbart quoted Texas Rep. Chip Roy, who blasted the Biden administration and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas “for failing to uphold immigration law, enforce Title 42, and secure our border.”
- The Washington Examiner reported that among those who are not being deported immediately under Title 42, those allowed to stay the United States are generally not being tested for coronavirus before being released.
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© Dallas Gerber, 2021
