Biden is turning to the Trump-era regime to evacuate Venezuelan migrants
Two years ago, candidate Joe Biden vehemently condemned President Donald Trump for immigration policies that “brutalize and boycott at every turn” in Venezuela, including those fleeing the “brutal” government of socialist Nicolas Maduro.
With a growing number of Venezuelans approaching the US-Mexico border as the November 8 election approaches, Biden has turned to an unlikely source for a solution: his predecessor’s playbook.
Last week, Biden passed a Trump-era rule known as Title 42 — which Biden’s own Justice Department is fighting in court — to deny Venezuela the chance to request asylum at the border from his beleaguered country.
The rule, first enacted by Trump in 2020, uses emergency public health authorities to prevent migrants from taking refuge at the border to the United States, based on a need to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
Biden’s policy marks an abrupt turn for the White House, which a few weeks ago lambasted Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Was, putting.
“These were children, they were mothers, they were fleeing communism,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at the time.
Biden’s new policy drew sharp criticism from immigrant advocates, with many pointing out Trump’s similarities.
The administration says the policy is intended to protect the Venezuelan people from the U.S.
Why the reversal?
More than a year after taking office in January 2021, Biden deferred to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They used his authority to uphold a Trump-era declaration that a public health risk existed, which warranted the speedy eviction of asylum seekers.
Members of Biden’s party and activist groups had doubts about the public health basis for allowing Title 42 to remain in effect, especially when COVID-19 is more prevalent in the U.S. than elsewhere. It was spreading more widely.
After months of internal deliberations and preparations, the CDC said on April 1 that it would end the public health system and return to standard border processing of migrants, allowing them to request asylum with U.S. Homeland Security officials, increasing the limit. Crossing.
But officials inside and outside the White House were conflicted about eliminating this right, believing it effectively reduced the number of people crossing the border, according to senior administration officials.
According to officials who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss internal discussions, a court order in May kept Title 42 due to a challenge from Republican state officials, appeased by some in the administration was greeted with relief.
The administration had announced that it would stop expelling immigrants under Title 42 starting May 23 and go back to detaining and deporting migrants who were not eligible to enter and stay in the U.S. – a lengthy process that allows migrants to return to the U.S. Allows you to request asylum.
Thomas Cartwright of Witness on the Border said, “We are deeply troubled by the explicit acceptance, codification and expansion of the use of Title 42, an irrelevant health order, as a cornerstone of border policy.” “He who abrogates the legal right of asylum.” A separate lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union also seeks to eliminate Title 42, an effort that could render the administration’s proposal useless.
“People have a right to seek asylum—regardless of where they came from, how they got to the United States, and whether or not they have family here,” said ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt.
