Immigrants’ Rights Group Project Corazon Points to Harms to Asylum Seekers Between Now and May 23, 2022

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Many media outlets are now reporting that the Biden Administration plans to end its use of Title 42, a harmful and discriminatory policy of excluding asylum seekers from asking for asylum because of COVID19, by May 23, 2022. 

Seeking asylum is a right under U.S. and international law. Title 42, initially invoked by the Trump Administration in 2020, designated hundreds of thousands of migrants for “expulsion” in lieu of providing them with the right to seek asylum, arguing that allowing these migrants to enter the U.S. may increase the spread of COVID-19. In the past two years, it is estimated that more than 1.5 million asylum seekers have been expelled under this policy. 

Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG), which provides free legal services to vulnerable migrants at the border through its Project Corazon initiative, supports the Administration decision to end the use of Title 42, but calls for an end to the use of Title 42 now. Two months more of this harmful and discriminatory policy will only mean two more months of already-vulnerable individuals being left in potentially deadly situations. 

“Since its inception, the application of Title 42 to asylum seekers has been extremely cruel,” says Estuardo Cifuentes, Client Services Manager and Guatemalan asylum seeker with Project Corazon at Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG). “The expulsion of those seeking protection by sending them to places where they face persecution or torture violates laws and obligations under international treaties. Two years later Title 42 continues to cause harm, and now we are faced with two more months. I hope that its termination will be accompanied by policies that will allow a fair and humane process for the thousands of people who continue to suffer at the border.” 

“While I’m relieved that Title 42 will be ending in May, I cried when I heard that it would remain in effect until May 23rd,” says Jessica Riley, Staff Attorney with Project Corazon at Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG). “We have clients in crisis right now seeking asylum at the border who are sick or who have already been kidnapped and tortured in Mexico. They need help right now, not on May 23rd. And at the end of the next two months, what damage will have been done to the lives of asylum seekers at the border? What the southern border needs is for Title 42 to end now and the implementation of an efficient and humane system that ensures due process and treats asylum seekers who have been in such terrible situations with dignity.”

“We are extremely disappointed in the delay for lifting Title 42,” says Traci Feit Love, Executive Director of Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG). “While we are glad the Biden Administration is taking steps to end this harmful and discriminatory policy, we remain deeply concerned for people whose lives are currently at stake and who will continue to suffer every single day between now and the May 23 repeal. As the Biden Administration considers how to welcome asylum seekers at the border in a humane and dignified way, we also urge them to work directly with frontline organizations and asylum seekers who have invaluable feedback and experiences to share.”

###

Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG) coordinates large scale pro bono programs and issue advocacy efforts to protect human rights and ensure equal justice under the law, and has a network of 125,000+ lawyers to assist in its efforts.