(San Antonio, Texas) – Today, the Biden Administration announced it would impose the expedited removal process against migrant families utilizing so-called “improvements” that will only serve to fast-track the continued detention and deportation of vulnerable asylum-seekers, including parents with small children. The Biden administration promised to “Build Back Better” by restoring asylum protections and protecting immigrant communities, but that’s not what’s happening now. Up until this point only single adults had been facing expedited removal, but with today’s announcement the Biden administration is returning to one of the country’s most inhumane policies by reinforcing expedited removal to families with children.
“We thought we had seen the last of expedited removal, which allows the government to summarily deport people without any right to seek asylum or any chance to see a judge. Instead, it is being embraced by the Biden administration. We know from our years of work with detained families that expedited removal results in longer stays in detention and can be tantamount to a death sentence. This is basically Title 42 by another name, the cruel law which flagrantly violates the rights of asylum seekers.” – Jonathan Ryan, President and CEO at RAICES
“Expedited removal was created to have safeguards to protect asylum seekers from deportation, but from our years of experience we know an expedited removal order means de facto deportation, even for people the law is meant to protect.”
Seeking asylum in the United States is a legal act. Full stop. Putting in place further restrictions on migrant families facing both a global pandemic and climate crisis is completely unacceptable,” he continued.
For all these reasons, we demand the Biden administration not only end expedited removal and Title 42, but also take all the necessary steps to create a “fair, orderly and humane immigration system” as it promised to do. Ensuring that migrants can seek refugee at our borders without fear of prosecution, detention and deportation must be a top priority.
Press Contact: Jessica Ortiz
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