WASHINGTON, D.C. – Earlier today, the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Louisiana issued a Preliminary Injunction blocking the Biden administration from ending Title 42. In response, Katharina Obser, director of the Migrant Rights and Justice program, issued the following statement:

“For more than two years, expulsions under Title 42 have forced thousands of people seeking protection back to danger, persecution, and harm. The policy’s justification has long been loudly and clearly debunked by public health experts. Title 42 has weaponized public health law explicitly to shut down access to asylum in the United States. The Biden administration was right to move to terminate this unlawful policy so that the U.S. could finally begin to restore an orderly, just, and welcoming asylum system across the border.

“We, and countless others, have documented for far too long the horrific impact of policies like Title 42 that traumatize and seek to deter rather than welcome and protect, and we will continue to expose its harms until the policy is finally reversed. Congress must now more than ever forcefully reject any legislative effort to perpetuate or enshrine Title 42, a move that would betray longstanding U.S. obligations and laws to protect the persecuted. At the same time, the administration should continue to do all it can to defend its plans to restore access to asylum across the U.S. border, including at ports of entry. It is past time to turn the page on this shameful and unconscionable violation of our moral and legal obligations to allow those fleeing harm to seek safety.”

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