SPLC Statement on Biden Administration Title 42 Policy Changes

WASHINGTON — The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) released the following statement from Efrén C. Olivares, deputy legal director for the SPLC’s Immigrant Justice Project, in response to President Joe Biden’s plans to extend the Title 42 expulsion policy to Haitians, Cubans and Nicaraguans; expand the use of the expedited removal process; restrict access to ports of entry for people seeking asylum; and narrow eligibility criteria for asylum:

“President Biden correctly noted in his remarks today that seeking asylum is a human right and he claimed not to like the Trump administration’s Title 42 policy. But the regulatory changes he announced negate the right to apply for asylum and expand Title 42 to more nationalities.

 “Seeking asylum is legal, no matter how someone arrives in the country and regardless of whether someone has a U.S.-based financial sponsor. These changes will directly harm mostly Black and Brown migrants, both at the border — where they will be stuck in Mexico, vulnerable to extortion, kidnapping and violence — and in countries like Cuba and Haiti, where people will increasingly take to the seas and risk death to seek safety.

 “We opposed these policies under the Trump administration, and we oppose them now. During a time of increased global migration and instability, we call on the Biden administration to reject the xenophobic, racist policies of the Trump administration and recommit to this country’s decades-long guarantee to people fleeing persecution that we will welcome and protect them.”