Washington, DC – Upon news that Senate Republicans are seeking to force a vote on keeping Title 42 in place as part of a COVID funding package deal, the following is a statement from Vanessa Cárdenas, Deputy Director of America’s Voice.
The stakes are high. The question is whether Senate Democrats are going to stand with Stephen Miller and Senate Republicans who want to end asylum as we know it, or stand for an America that can protect both its borders and its tradition as a welcoming nation?
A Senate vote in support of extending Title 42 could come as early as this week. Title 42, a public health law enacted in 1944, was contorted by Stephen Miller in 2020 to deny people the opportunity to apply for refugee status under established law. It has been in existence for two years, and by all objective measures, it has been a failure. It turbocharged recidivism, inflated the number of “border encounters,” and prevented the use of consequence delivery mechanisms under existing law.
It is long overdue for the Biden administration to take this step of unwinding the cynical use of Title 42. The administration has a solid plan to fully activate its operational capacity to deal both with those who are eligible for relief and those who are not. And let’s stop being small and fearful. We as a nation are strong enough and capable enough to manage upticks and downturns in forced migration at our southern border.
Let’s be clear about Republican intentions: they want to scare Democrats into voting for a Title 42 extension that will effectively end asylum in America. In such a proposal, we expect conditions to be included in the legislation that will be impossible to meet. Unless Democrats stand up to this cynical Republican play, they will be standing with Stephen Miller and Republicans as they slam the doors shut on refugees – perhaps forever.
Democrats have a choice. They can cower before an ugly rightwing disinformation campaign that falsely asserts America has “open borders” designed to “replace” Americans, or they can stand for the proposition that America can govern our borders with both order and justice.
Stephen Miller recently stated, “I was deeply proud to work on implementing the hugely successful Title 42 policy.” Do Democrats really want to vote to continue his work? History is watching.
