On January 5, President Joe Biden announced the expansion of Title 42, one of the policies against immigration to the United States, which allows the Department of Homeland Security to deny access to U.S. territory to all those considered a threat to health, measures that experts described as inhumane and tragic.
Joe Biden's proposal to expand Title 42 allows for the crackdown on migrants who try to enter the United States without the required documents, but also allows the entry of 30,000 immigrants – each month – from Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela and Nicaragua as part of a humanitarian parole program.
Kerri Talbot, deputy director of the Immigration Center, said at a press conference organized by Ethnic Media Services in which experts met to discuss the implications of the expansion of Title 42 against migrants, that policies against immigrants are "inhumane" and expressed the importance of creating immigration laws that protect Dreamers and agricultural workers.
For his part, Ed Kissam, administrator of the WKF Fund, pointed out that the extension of Title 42 is a "tragedy" because, in his opinion, one public health policy is being used for a completely different one.
DREAMERS face the danger of being deported
Talbot pointed to the need to protect those who belong to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, which grants undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children temporary permission to work and drive, as well as temporary protection from deportation.
"We are concerned that DACA may eventually end and we want the administration to protect those who have this program through policies that allow people to fix their status and obtain residency," she said.
Recently, Texas Judge Andrew Hanen ruled that the DACA program is illegal, and that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is therefore prohibited from accepting new applications, although current beneficiaries can request renewals.
At the time, Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, political analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, pointed out that "it has been shown that people who have DACA have obtained many benefits" and pointed out that in some states, professional licenses and certifications have even been granted to beneficiaries.
He added that the program currently has 590,000 beneficiaries, a lower number compared to the 2019 figure of around 700,000.
Cyrus Mehta, founder and managing partner of Cyrus D. Mehta & Associates, also said that the number of green cards is not sufficient and that the number should be abolished.
"The system needs to be reformed," he concluded.
This publication was supported in whole or part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.
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