Report: U.S. Expands Effort to Admit ‘Most Vulnerable’ Migrants Denied Entry Under Title 42

The Biden administration is loosening Title 42 border rules invoked by former President Donald Trump and is allowing favored Mexico-based nonprofits to pick and refer asylum seekers to U.S. officials for entry.

Among those needy asylum seekers are sexual minorities, people who claim to be transgender, pregnant women, and individuals with medical issues, the Wall Street Journal reported late last month.

Citing three people briefed on the matter, Reuters added last week:

Migrants who have experienced long periods of displacement, sexual minorities, and victims of crime, trafficking, and sexual violence will also be among those considered for the program.

Those approved through the process will be given COVID-19 [coronavirus disease] tests and a date and time to go to a port of entry. They will be released into the United States and given a notice to appear in immigration court to present their asylum claims.

The Biden administration’s decision to loosen Title 42 implemented by Trump’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to help stop the spread of the coronavirus would rely on several Mexican nonprofits to identify and refer the neediest asylum seekers to American officials for entry.

Citing the Journal and local media reports, Breitbart News noted the Biden folks are exploring expanding exceptions for migrants banned from entering the U.S. under Title 42. President Joe Biden decided to keep the measure in place.

However, in recent weeks, Biden has moved to water down the policy in response to pressure from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), pro-immigration lawmakers, and even United Nations officials.

All the Title 42 critics, including the U.N., claim the policy is illegal because of the near impossibility of winning protection under the measure in its original form.

Breitbart News learned from a local news outlet that the Biden administration began relaxing Title 42 in El Paso to allow “vulnerable populations” such as transgender people to enter the U.S. and seek asylum.

Reuters reported last week:

The new system, which started at the port of entry in El Paso, Texas, this week, creates a more formal process that allows pre-screened asylum seekers to enter the United States on humanitarian grounds, despite a broad policy of expulsions at the border.

…

By next week, the effort to streamline exemptions is expected to expand to other Texas ports in Brownsville, Laredo and Hidalgo, as well as in Nogales, Arizona, U.S. officials said on a call with advocates on Wednesday, according to two people familiar with the discussion.

As of Wednesday [May 5], roughly two dozen migrants had been admitted through the program, the two sources said, and the number of people allowed to enter going forward will depend on capacity to safely process them at the ports. The numbers will likely be limited, however, because of the non-profit groups’ capacity to screen migrants who might be eligible.

The new system unveiled by Reuters builds on exceptions to Title 42 that the ACLU has made possible by challenging the Biden administration about the legality of the measure in court, a move mirrored along with other organizations seeking to end the expulsion policy.

“Since late March, the ACLU has been able to get up to 35 families per day admitted at ports of entry along the border and expects to continue its process in parallel with efforts from other non-profit groups,” Reuters pointed out.

In the early days of Biden’s tenure, the administration expanded the extent of the “limited exceptions” to the Title 42 policy to unaccompanied children and, most recently and to a much lesser extent, some families that Mexico is refusing to take.

While still stressing the border is closed to unnecessary travel and asylum seekers, Biden is increasingly allowing exceptions for some families and unaccompanied children as well as people in other categories in recent weeks.

The administration reportedly continues to deport tens of thousands of adults and some families under the policy, which asylum advocates assert leaves many migrants stranded in dangerous Mexican border regions.

At the end of last month, the Journal noted the Biden administration would likely work with the U.N. to develop a formal process for selecting families for U.S. entry.

The new process will reportedly boost the number of families crossing into the United States amid the ongoing border crisis that is already overwhelming American resources and personnel.

With the weakening of title 42, the historic surge of migrants searching for refugee, asylum, or some other legal status may provide the Biden administration with a cover for bringing even more migrants into the U.S. while publicly claiming the border is primarily closed.

According to the nonprofit group Human Rights First, migrants denied U.S. entry under Title 42 had suffered at least 492 violent attacks, including rapes and kidnappings since President Biden took office.