EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT – “Can we really be proud of this ‘policy?’ Is spineless complicity in wrongdoing really ‘enlightened policy?’ What’s the purpose of an Attorney General who lacks the courage and backbone to stand up and demand immediate reinstitution of Constitutional standards and the rule of law at the border? How do we propose to put a woman or man on Mars when we can’t institute a basic asylum system?” (AP Photo/Julia Le Duc)
UNHCR Calls for End to CDC Title 42 Blockade
UNHCR, May 20, 2021, Statement attributable to UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi
“I appeal to the government of the United States to swiftly lift the public health-related asylum restrictions that remain in effect at the border and to restore access to asylum for the people whose lives depend on it, in line with international legal and human rights obligations.
I welcome the US government’s plans for much needed reform and capacity building to manage border processes and the positive steps that have been taken to exempt unaccompanied children and some families in situations of acute vulnerability from these severe restrictions. A system which allows a small number of asylum seekers to be admitted daily, however, carries with it a number of risks, and is not an adequate response. There is an urgent need to take further steps to provide access at ports of entry which remain closed to most asylum-seekers owing to the Title 42 public health order by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in place since March last year.
The Title 42 order has resulted in the expulsions of hundreds of thousands of people to Mexico or their countries of origin, denying their access to asylum procedures. Guaranteed access to safe territory and the prohibition of pushbacks of asylum-seekers are core precepts of the 1951 Refugee Convention and refugee law, which governments are required to uphold to protect the rights and lives of refugees. The expulsions have also had serious humanitarian consequences in northern Mexico.
We at UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, have maintained since the start of the pandemic that protecting public health and protecting access to asylum, a fundamental human right, are fully compatible. At the height of the public health emergency, many countries put in place protocols such as health screening, testing and quarantine measures, to simultaneously protect both public health and the right to seek asylum.
I encourage the US administration to continue its work to strengthen its asylum system and diversify safe pathways so asylum-seekers are not forced to resort to dangerous crossings facilitated by smugglers.
For our part, UNHCR stands ready to support the implementation of such a decision.”
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The suffering of migrants continues as does the indifference of Biden officials to racial and gender injustice. Such tone deafness and spinelessness doesn’t bode well for voting rights, police reform, criminal law reform, pay equity, health care, or any other civil rights/social justice initiatives from the Biden Administration!
The Biden folks can’t keep relying on the crimes against humanity by Trump as an excuse for continuing them! Not rocket science — but it should be the number one national priority now that COVID-19 seems to be getting under control and the economy is rebounding.
We aren’t gong to solve the centuries-old problems in the Middle East tomorrow! But, we could and should begin fixing our broken and dysfunctional immigration system and Immigration Courts today (actually should have been underway since Day 1 of the Biden Administration)!
🇺🇸Due Process Forever!
PWS
05-24-21