Washington, D.C. – On Tuesday, December 27, 2022, the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling on Title 42 that allows mass expulsions of people seeking asylum to continue indefinitely. Since its implementation nearly three years ago, Title 42 has been used to expel people more than 2.4 million times back to danger in Mexico or back to the country they fled, without being able to seek asylum. The Supreme Court’s ruling suspends a district court’s termination of Title 42, which was expected this month.

In response, Kimiko Hirota, policy advisor of the Migrant Rights and Justice program at the Women’s Refugee Commission, issued the following statement:

“Tonight, and for many more nights to come, people desperate for refuge will continue to wait in dangerous and squalid conditions for their opportunity to seek asylum. The Supreme Court’s decision to delay Title 42’s termination is unconscionable. As the district court stated last month, ‘[i]t is undisputed that [Title 42’s] impact on migrants was indeed dire,’ resulting in tens of thousands of assaults, rapes, and kidnappings.

“Every day that Title 42 remains in place, individuals fleeing violence and persecution are denied their legal right to request safety in the United States and instead are left to suffer immense harm. At this point, no one is still pretending that Title 42 is a public health measure. In reality, Title 42 is an asylum ban born out of racism and xenophobia.

“Seeking asylum is a human and legal right. The Supreme Court’s ruling blatantly disregards our nation’s obligations to protect the persecuted. We will continue to advocate for a fairer, humane asylum system and urge the Biden administration to take all possible steps to end Title 42.”

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