Editorial: With Title 42 ending, Biden relies on the same failed immigration policies
A line of people at a border
Dozens of immigrants from as far away as India and Africa wait to be processed by Customs and Border Protection officers Friday along the border wall in Somerton, Ariz.(Raul Roa / Los Angeles Times)
BY THE TIMES EDITORIAL BOARD
MAY 10, 2023 3 AM PT
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The border management strategy known as Title 42 has allowed the United States to expel asylum-seeking migrants en masse for the past three years using a public health pretext. It’s not surprising, then, that many state and federal lawmakers have been trying to hold onto the Trump-era order for dear life. After all, Title 42 comes straight from the playbook that Republican and Democratic policymakers have relied on for decades. Operation Hold the Line in 1993, Operation Gatekeeper in 1994 (both of which fortified the border in certain areas) and Title 42 were designed to make it harder, if not impossible, for migrants to enter the U.S.
None of these policies have stopped desperate people fleeing countries ravaged by violence or authoritarian regimes from trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. Migrants brave jungles teeming with bandits, travel atop dangerous trains and walk through scorching deserts for the opportunity to live and work without fear. And they’ll continue to do so even after Title 42 ends Thursday, when the COVID-19 pandemic emergency is lifted.
That’s because the mishmash of policies that the Biden administration will use to replace Title 42 relies on the same concept of trying to scare migrants from arriving at the border, rather than addressing the root cause of migration.
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-05-10/la-ed-title-42-ends
A line of people at a border
Dozens of immigrants from as far away as India and Africa wait to be processed by Customs and Border Protection officers Friday along the border wall in Somerton, Ariz.(Raul Roa / Los Angeles Times)
BY THE TIMES EDITORIAL BOARD
MAY 10, 2023 3 AM PT
Show more sharing options
The border management strategy known as Title 42 has allowed the United States to expel asylum-seeking migrants en masse for the past three years using a public health pretext. It’s not surprising, then, that many state and federal lawmakers have been trying to hold onto the Trump-era order for dear life. After all, Title 42 comes straight from the playbook that Republican and Democratic policymakers have relied on for decades. Operation Hold the Line in 1993, Operation Gatekeeper in 1994 (both of which fortified the border in certain areas) and Title 42 were designed to make it harder, if not impossible, for migrants to enter the U.S.
None of these policies have stopped desperate people fleeing countries ravaged by violence or authoritarian regimes from trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. Migrants brave jungles teeming with bandits, travel atop dangerous trains and walk through scorching deserts for the opportunity to live and work without fear. And they’ll continue to do so even after Title 42 ends Thursday, when the COVID-19 pandemic emergency is lifted.
That’s because the mishmash of policies that the Biden administration will use to replace Title 42 relies on the same concept of trying to scare migrants from arriving at the border, rather than addressing the root cause of migration.
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-05-10/la-ed-title-42-ends