Menendez, Booker Statement on Biden Administration's Decision to End Title 42

Press Release

U.S. Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker (both D-N.J.) issued the following statement in response to the Biden Administration's decision to end Title 42:

"We are glad that the Administration has made the decision to end Title 42 expulsions. Title 42 is a Trump-era relic that prevented the Department of Homeland Security from implementing our immigration laws and enriched smuggling networks by allowing vulnerable migrants to make multiple dangerous trips across the border. It failed to protect public health and instead created chaos at the border and hurt asylum seekers fleeing prosecution and torture.

"While we support ending Title 42, extending this policy until the end of May will only incentivize more irregular migration to the border and create an unnecessary bottleneck effect when it finally sunsets. We hope the administration will expand exemptions to the original order and start lifting Title 42 in phases. They have already used these exemptions to help Ukrainians at the Southern border, and the administration should start processing families of all nationalities immediately. Waiting any longer before starting to process migrants with asylum claims will only allow smugglers to exploit even more vulnerable people and increase operational challenges at the border.

"We also call on the Administration to double down on its efforts to resolve the crises that are driving unprecedented levels of migration throughout our hemisphere. Many of our Cuban, Haitian, Venezuelan, Colombian, and Nicaraguan brothers and sisters, along with others in this hemisphere, face direct and immediate threats to their lives. They are deserving of international protection considerations. It is time for the United States to do its part to expand legal access to migration from Latin America and the Caribbean, including through bolstered visa processing, refugee resettlement, humanitarian parole, and labor migration opportunities. Our nation thrives because of the contributions of immigrants from Latin America and the Caribbean, and denying predominantly Black and Brown migrants from seeking protection from prosecution and torture is not who we are as a nation.

"We stand ready to work closely with all federal agencies of jurisdiction to make sure they have the necessary resources to begin processing asylum seekers, restore humane immigration enforcement and humanitarian laws at the border, and protect all migrants seeking refuge in America."

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