Important Perspective from Sheriff David Hathaway of Santa Cruz County, AZ, who says: “End this farce and do the real work it takes to fix the border.”
Washington, DC – A new op-ed in the Arizona Republic from Sheriff David Hathaway of Santa Cruz County, AZ, which is located on the Arizona-Mexico border, makes a compelling case for why we should end the Trump/Stephen Miller Title 42 policy. Sheriff Hathaway notes that there “are better ways to address immigration than Title 42. End this farce and do the real work it takes to fix the border.”
Read the op-ed, “Take it from a border sheriff: Title 42 doesn’t help us. End it now,” in its entirety at that link and find key excerpts below:
“Invoking Title 42 at the U.S.-Mexico border was always a tyrannical imposition that, unfortunately, found little resistance on the right or the left of the political spectrum in 2020.
…Many individuals seeking protection under U.S. law were expelled under Title 42 as they sought to cross at ports of entry or between ports of entry to attend to their jobs or see their families. And they kept trying, over and over.
It falsely inflated statistics of what was taking place at the border as these migrants faced immediate deportations with no processing and no repercussions for repeat attempts.
…End Title 42. Don’t build a replacement for it. Instead, address the true crisis at hand.
…My colleagues at the border need bolstered procedures and infrastructure to properly and humanely process all types of entry claims at the border. Immigration judges should be present in adequate numbers right along the border to immediately and expeditiously adjudicate all claims to do with immigration.
And the White House should lead policymakers to also clarify and prioritize the various categories of visas, because no one knows which ones are still in effect after the past two years.
Most importantly, politicians out of Washington, D.C., should stop coming to the border just for photo ops.
As a sheriff on the border, I’m among those who are desperately looking for bold leaders who are ready to understand and seek solutions that improve our border infrastructure and policies this year. Action cannot wait for another national election cycle to pass us by.”
According to Vanessa Cárdenas, Deputy Director of America’s Voice:
Sheriff Hathaway has it right: what we need is a better way to efficiently and humanely process people at the border. Using an ineffective and outdated public health directive is no way to handle migration. Americans want a common sense solution that is consistent with our values and that shows that the U.S. can in fact manage our border with both order and justice.
We are a nation that protects those seeking safety and is built on a tradition of welcoming immigrants and refugees. Democrats need to stand up for real solutions and give the American people what they have been asking for: a functional immigration system; and the GOP needs to stop playing politics with people’s lives.
