There is no medical or public health justification to continue implementing this policy
Washington, DC – More voices are calling on the Biden administration to end the Title 42 program, a Trump-era policy aimed at excluding migrants and asylum seekers due to COVID. Despite promising to undo Trump’s policies, the Biden administration has kept Title 42 in place to block and expel asylum seekers at the southern border. The Biden administration should build on Friday’s welcome announcement that Title 42 would no longer pertain to unaccompanied minor children and announce the end of Title 42 once and for all.
The following is a statement from Dr. Anand Swaminathan, a doctor and medical commentator on CNN, Yahoo, MSNBC, and NBC, and Dr. Dona Kim Murphey MD, PhD, a physician scientist and Director of Medical Initiatives with Project Lifeline, calling on the Biden administration to rescind the Title 42 policy:
“While we are gratified that the Biden administration will no longer send unaccompanied minors back to their countries of origin, they continue to send back families and adults using COVID-19 as an excuse. There was never a sufficient public health or medical reason to justify the policy and there certainly is none now.
In October, more than 1,300 medical professionals called on the Biden administration to end Title 42, noting that it had ‘no basis in public health best practice.’ Just a few days ago, Doctors Without Borders called on the Biden administration to ‘rescind Title 42 immediately,’ again reminding us that there is no medical evidence nor public health justification to continue implementing it. We agree.
Expelling families, men and women, to dangerous situations in the name of COVID-19 is not protecting us from anything and has dire consequences for families fleeing their home countries. It’s time to end Title 42 once and for all.”
