Booker Statement on the End of Title 42

Statement

"I welcome the end of Title 42 - a harmful holdover from the Trump administration that severely undermined the legal right to seek asylum, enriched smuggling networks, and failed to protect public health. This misguided policy created chaos at the border and put countless asylum-seekers fleeing violence in harm's way.

As the Biden Administration looks ahead, there is an opportunity to make good on its commitments to ensure that asylum-seekers can pursue their cases while living in communities in the United States rather than being subjected to inhumane detention. The United States must increase its efforts to expand legal avenues to migration from Latin America and the Caribbean, such as from bolstered visa processing, refugee resettlement, humanitarian parole, and labor migration opportunities.

There are real safety and security issues at the border, and I believe there are solutions that can and must get bipartisan support. The way forward must stay true to our nation's fundamental values and remember the lessons that led to the creation of our asylum system after World War II and the broadening of legal pathways to immigration that were made years ago under a Republican president.

Our nation thrives because of the contributions of immigrants. Denying them the opportunity to seek safe harbor from prosecution and torture does not represent who we are as a nation."

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