Local activists react to Title 42 coming to an end, surge in migration expected across the U.S.
Updated: 5:02 p.m. on Dec. 19, 2022
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on Monday put a temporary hold on the termination of a controversial Trump-era immigration policy known as Title 42 that was set to end on Dec. 21, leaving it in place for now.
Published: 3:34 p.m. on Dec. 19, 2022
MILWAUKEE, (CBS 58) -- The Biden administration announced it will end Trump-era pandemic restrictions that effectively blocked migrants from entering the United States on Wednesday.
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, a public health order known as Title 42 was issued in the spring of 2020, allowing federal officials to expel hundreds of thousands of migrants in over two years.
"We have had a working system until Trump basically created a crisis that really wasn't there," said Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director at Voces de la Frontera.
Moreover, the president of Forward Latino, Darryl Morin, said this was the first time in history that The Department of Homeland Security saw such a policy.
"When we talked to a lot of public health officials off the record, both at the federal, regional and state level, everybody pretty much agrees that there was no real threat from COVID-19 because we already had confirmed cases here already," he said.
Morin said the policy has blocked a little over 2.4 million asylum seekers from even being able to enter the U.S. legally and submit a formal request.
Lifting Title 42 would also mean U.S. officials will have to face an overwhelming 1.9 million cases in backlog, according to experts.
"During our border visit this summer, we were visiting camps where there were literally tens of thousands of asylum seekers simply waiting there in 105-degree temperatures," Morin added. "We spoke with a mother who had suffered from tremendous sexual abuse in her town and was forced to watch her daughter suffer the same type of abuse and they were all but forced to leave if they wished to continue living."
That Latina mother is just one of hundreds of thousands of people who've been waiting for months.
"We would simply be finally complying with international human rights treaties and national laws around asylum," said Christine Neumann-Ortiz. "This has been a shameful policy that is discriminatory and deadly."
A group of GOP-led states, however, said it's reckless to end the immigration policy and they are fighting to keep Title 42 in place.
Republican Sen. Ron Johnson told Fox News in a recent interview, he not only believes the immigration situation in the U.S. is a disaster, he said it's turned into a humanitarian crisis.
"Oh, they're delusional, they're in a state of denial, Secretary Mayorkas refuses to acknowledge it's even a problem. He calls it a challenge," he said.