March 21st is the second anniversary of Title 42, one of the cruelest Trump-era immigration policies that President Biden has not only maintained but expanded. Welcome With Dignity is promoting demonstrations across the country against Title 42 on March 21 to echo and uphold actions taken at the border by asylum seekers and direct service supporting organizations at the border in California and Arizona. Jewish Activists for Immigration Justice is organizing one for Hampshire, Franklin, and Hampden Counties — in downtown Northampton’s Pulaski Park at noon.
Under the false pretense of a COVID public health requirement, Title 42 immediately expels migrants seeking asylum and returns them to danger in the countries from which they fled, denying them their due process right under international law to initiate a claim of credible fear. There have been over a million forced expulsions of asylum seekers under Title 42 since Biden took office. Parents who are to be expelled have protected thousands of their children by desperately sending them to cross the border to the U.S. alone. This does not make headlines.
This U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention policy has been widely condemned by doctors and epidemiologists and even some high-level CDC officials. Border authorities could easily implement COVID protection measures like testing, vaccinations, and masking. Commerce and tourism are now open at the border. Escape from violence should be open as well.
Many politicians, such as Sen. Charles Schumer and Sen. Cory Booker, are now beginning to call more strongly for an end to Title 42, especially after last week’s court ruling that required the administration to turn back unaccompanied children, who’d previously been exempt from the ruling.
Please join our vigil and rally to call on the Biden administration to end this cruel policy and restart asylum. https://www.facebook.com/JAIJWM/.
Ellen Kaufmann is a member Jewish Activists for Immigration Justice and lives in Shelburne Falls.