The T42 Numbers are Devastating

Camilo Montoya-Galvez, CBS News, Oct. 14, 2021

"Out of hundreds of thousands of migrants who have been processed under a pandemic-era policy at the southern border, just over 3,200 asylum-seekers have been screened for U.S. humanitarian protection, according to unpublished government data obtained by CBS News. Since March 2020, U.S. authorities along the border with Mexico have used a public health authority known as Title 42 to rapidly expel migrants more than 1,163,000 times without allowing them to see an immigration judge or an asylum officer, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) figures show. As of the end of September, only 3,217 migrants processed under the public health law have been referred for interviews with U.S. asylum officers, who are charged with upholding humanitarian laws designed to prevent the government from returning people to places where they could be harmed. ... The new statistics show the implementation of Title 42 is inconsistent with U.S. and international refugee laws, which were created in the wake of World War II and the Holocaust to ensure countries did not summarily deport people without determining whether they could face persecution if returned. ... Public health experts, advocates, the United Nations, former Biden administration officials and Democratic lawmakers like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have denounced Title 42 as an illegal policy enacted under the guise of public health. Three federal judges have also concluded the policy is likely unlawful. ... Lee Gelernt, an attorney leading the ACLU lawsuit, criticized the Biden administration for continuing to block migrants from seeking asylum, even as it plans in November to lift "nonessential" border travel restrictions for vaccinated travelers seeking to enter the U.S. for tourism and family visits. "Unlike nonessential travel, there is a legal and moral obligation to provide asylum seekers with hearings," Gelernt told CBS News."