Legislation to extend Title 42 would mean more needless suffering for asylum seekers

Long before Boise became an official “Welcoming City” in 2019, Idahoans have appreciated our immigrant neighbors in our schools and communities. Business leaders know their value in filling critical shortages in agriculture, dairies and healthcare. And in my nearly two decades of experience as an Idaho immigration attorney, I have fielded many calls from farmers, diary owners, high tech entrepreneurs and construction and hospitality employers asking how they can support their immigrant employees, friends and family.

However, there’s a big disconnect between Idahoans’ positive experiences with immigrants and the way politicians talk about them. I’m referring specifically to Idaho’s official support for an inhumane policy that has harmed thousands of migrants seeking asylum at the Southern border. Known as Title 42, the outdated public health measure was enacted early in the pandemic and forces asylum seekers to stay in Mexico or their home countries while their claims are processed.

Even though the U.S. Supreme Court in June ruled that the Biden Administration could legally end a similar “remain in Mexico” policy for asylum seekers, Title 42 still remains. This is despite the fact that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control agrees that immigrants are not at risk of spreading the coronavirus.

Under both American and international law, people fleeing violence or persecution have the right to apply for asylum in the United States. We have a system to process their claims, which we’ve used for decades. Without it, migrants are sent back to the same dangerous conditions they were forced to leave in the first place or they languish in squalid border cities — often up to a year — at risk of sexual violence, trafficking and exploitation. Far from protecting public health, Title 42 is causing a humanitarian crisis. That’s certainly not what Americans — or Idahoans — want.

Idaho’s own Sens. Risch and Crapo have introduced legislation that would extend Title 42 until 2025. That’s three years from now when we all hope COVID will be long gone. Yet it’s clear this is no longer a health policy. Rather, it’s a misuse of a public health measure that unfairly punishes immigrants. Our senators openly say they are worried about an influx of immigrants — based on reports that the number of border apprehensions has increased.

These fears are overblown. A closer look at the data reveals that out of the 1.1 million people who were apprehended at the border during the first nine months of fiscal year 2021, more than one-third weren’t newcomers to the border. Instead, they’d been there for months already and were trying to cross again. That’s how desperate they are — to flee their home countries and increasingly inhumane conditions at the border itself. Most people would present themselves to authorities if they were permitted to do so. Instead, they risk their lives to get in; last year more than 650 people died this way. That doesn’t even include the 53 people who suffocated in a tractor-trailer in Texas earlier this summer.

Restoring our system would reduce crossings between official ports of entry and lower the number of apprehensions. That’s crucial during the dangerous summer months when border crossings over the desert are deadly. It would also ease the burden on our overworked law enforcement agents.

We also have the opportunity to restore justice for the asylum seekers who have fled horrific conditions in their home countries and are being forced to endure additional suffering — now at the hands of the United States. I wish I could tell them: “Don’t believe the rhetoric from Idaho’s politicians. There are many kind people here who welcome you.” In the meantime, let’s stop supporting policies that make their first encounter with America so shameful.

This story was originally published August 4, 2022 at 4:00 AM.