Washington, D.C. – Following today’s D.C. Court of Appeals ruling finding that the Biden administration can no longer summarily expel migrants seeking protection to places where they may face torture or persecution, a Texas district judge tonight ordered the Biden administration to stop exempting unaccompanied children from the same policy.

In response to the late-day ruling, Katharina Obser, director of the Migrant Rights and Justice program at the Women’s Refugee Commission, issued the following statement:

“The Trump-era Title 42 expulsion policy perpetuated by the Biden administration has been in place for nearly two years, including as innumerable other COVID-19 restrictions have ended.

“Under no circumstance should a policy that was never about public health be used to return children arriving at the border alone to harm in Mexico or their countries of origin.

“Ending the policy has been long overdue, but there is no question that the Biden administration must now immediately move to end this unlawful, xenophobic policy to ensure the safety of children, families, and adults fleeing danger, and before a single unaccompanied child is returned to harm. The United States can and must restore an orderly, humane, and dignified system of access to asylum across the border, including at ports of entry.”

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