Madison Kwiecinski 

News Editor 

Mvk5945@ppsu.edu 

A policy which was originally enacted under former President Trump banned children crossing the border without their parents from immigrating to the U.S. Many children were crossing the border unaccompanied by adults, leading to a huge influx of unaccompanied minors entering the U.S. to seek asylum without a parental support system. 

Unaccompanied child migrants who are trying to enter the United States will no longer be denied the opportunity to seek asylum in the U.S. under new guidance from federal public health employees. On Friday, March 11, 2022, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention announced that expelling unaccompanied migrant children is not a warranted action to protect the public health anymore at this time. 

This change was announced shortly before a court order would have taken effect, which would have given the Biden administration the authority to remove unaccompanied minors from the country who are seeking asylum under Title 42, a measure introduced in response to the coronavirus pandemic. 

The CDC said that with available testing, children who are traveling alone can be released to family or other close relatives they have in the states, or in some cases sponsors, safely. 

Title 42 was enacted under Trump, though Biden has still not fully removed the public health law affecting immigration into the U.S. According to AP News, migrants have been expelled more than 1.6 million times under Title 42. 

Biden exempted unaccompanied minors from Title 42, but the act still applies to adults trying to cross the border, and families. This means all adults and families seeking asylum in the U.S. may travel to the border to request asylum, but will not be allowed to enter the United States for weeks or months until the Asylum request is approved. 

These limited immigration laws are having an even more widespread impact as refugees from other countries come to enter the U.S. amid the current crisis in Ukraine. NPR reports that early last week a woman fleeing from Ukraine tried to enter the U.S. this week with three young children, between Tijuana and San Diego, was turned away due to the COVID-19 pandemic border restrictions. Immigration authorities relented and eventually let this woman and her children seek refuge within the U.S. 

Blaine Bookey, the attorney representing the Ukrainian family who entered the U.S. based on asylum status, works at the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, stated, “The fact that we’re using COVID as an excuse to keep out asylum seekers at this moment in time, it’s just becoming more and more absurd and untenable for the administration.” 

The Biden administration is now allowing for many migrant families to seek asylum in the U.S., but adults are still not permitted to enter generally under title 42, and only some families receive asylum status. The Biden administration has spoken with immigrant advocates about ending the Policy, but abandoned that idea amid the pandemic when the number of migrants at the border hit record highs last year. 

“This is not who we are as a country,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Thursday, according to NPR. “Continuing this Trump era policy has defied common sense and common decency. Now’s the time to stop the madness.”

The Department of Homeland security is insistent that Title 42 is not an immigration policy, but is instead a public health measure. The Department says it is the responsibility of the CDC to decide when the public health order should be lifted, and that no decision has currently been made regarding it.