Is the real concern about terminating Title 42 health, or migration?
If it’s migration, then Title 42 of the Public Health Service Act of 1944 is not the answer. This law was created to give health officials quarantine authority and specifically designed to avoid discrimination against immigrants.
The Covid-19 pandemic provided an opportunity for the Trump administration to achieve its desired goal of closing the border to asylum seekers. The order, was not based on medical or scientific evidence, but was political pressure on the Center for Disease Control. Since March 2020, over a million asylum seekers have been expelled or refused entry without the legally required screenings, and forcefully returned to the dangers they were trying to escape, such as gang violence, rape, torture, and murder. At the same time, hundreds of thousands of people from all parts of the world come to the United States through ports of entry.
If Title 42 is lifted, our chances of contact and consequential Covid contamination with asylum seekers is minimal. A greater risk is Michigan’s unvaccinated residents who are vectors for Covid-19 and fertile breeding grounds for variants. Yet many feel more threatened by potential refugees than our daily interactions with 40% of our neighbors who keep Covid alive in Michigan.
Immigration became an issue the day our country was born, but veiling a health policy as an entry strategy contradicts U.S. and international asylum laws. Once Title 42 is lifted, the border patrol will return to pre-pandemic U.S. Code, Title 8 enforcement practices. It’s time to end the misuse of Title 42.
Evelyn Gallegos
Brighton
