Human Rights First Opposes CDC’s Extension of Title 42

WASHINGTON D.C.– More than a year after President Biden’s Executive Order directing steps to restore asylum at the United States border, CBS News reports that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday chose at its most recent evaluation to continue to allow the Biden administration to invoke Title 42 authority to expel asylum seekers from the U.S.

Human Rights First has opposed this misuse of Title 42 since its inception in March 2020 and urges the administration to stop using the Trump administration’s specious health rationale to expel people to danger and block them from seeking asylum in the United States.

“Yesterday’s decision by the CDC defies credulity. It continues to scapegoat people seeking asylum. Over one year in office, the Biden administration has embraced and defended Title 42 longer and used it to expel more people than the Trump administration did,” said Eleanor Acer, Human Rights First senior director for refugee protection. “These two facts remain: there is no legitimate public health rationale for this order; and under U.S. and international law, people have the legal right to seek asylum from persecution in this country.”

Human Rights First continues to monitor the human cost of these policies. Our recent report, “A Shameful Record: Biden Administration’s Use of Trump Policies Endangers People Seeking Asylum,” tracks over 8,705 reports of kidnappings and other violent attacks against migrants and asylum seekers blocked in or expelled to Mexico due to Title 42 since the Biden administration took office. Public health experts have repeatedly called on the CDC to end this specious policy which they warn harms public health and perpetuates xenophobic and racist tropes.

On the first anniversary of President Biden’s EO, Human Rights First released a fact sheet detailing the administration’s progress and lack of progress in fulfilling the President’s commitments. It can be found here.