Governor Greg Abbott & The End Of Title 42

By Published On: April 28, 2022Categories: Vlog, Asylum, Immigration

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The History Of Title 42

In the United States, the process that we had before Title 42 is the Asylum Act since 1950, we have had a process for people from all over the world who are fleeing violence or persecution in their own countries.

Since that date, such people could come to the United States, to the bridge or border, express their fear of returning to their country of origin and their need to apply for Asylum protection in the United States.

Many laws around Asylum say that you have to prove that person does have a credible fear based on the persecution they have suffered because of their race, political opinion, nationality, social group; the process had been that credible fear interview was available.

Part of the process for all those who came for asylum was to present themselves at the border and say that they were afraid, or that their family or children wanted to apply for that protection.

The interview lasts for an hour, in which the person is telling the story of what happened, what he has suffered, and then the Asylum officer can make the decision whether he passed successfully or not, and if not, there was an opportunity to appeal in front of an immigration judge.

It was a process that used to take two to four weeks normally, and the people were detained in a detention center near the border, that was the process that worked, it wasn’t perfect, but it worked.

Then former President Trump did a lot of things to try to close the border to people seeking asylum, but finally, when the pandemic started gave the opportunity he wanted to close the border.

Finally, he closed it under Title 42 saying that it would be protecting people in the United States from Covid.

That was the U.S. Asylum stop in March 2020, that’s what we’ve had since then.

The only change there was, it had been for single children last year, that’s when we saw thousands of children trapped in the system because they came alone, that was the law of ’42, but only for children.

How It Will Affect Thousands Of People

The change that we’re celebrating today is that now President Biden has announced that Title 42 is going to be canceled for everyone, for adults, for families, for children, for people from Mexico, from Cuba, from Ukraine, for everybody.

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We are not going to have Title 42 because we already have ways to protect ourselves against Covid, such as vaccinations or testing, and there is no need to close the border for Covid anymore.

On May 23rd when this goes into effect, people will be able to apply for Asylum, but it is important to say that it’s not that everyone should come to the border on May 23rd because it will be very chaotic, it has been 2 years of people who have not been able to apply for Asylum, who are already going to want to do it, so it’s going to be very chaotic.

Title 42 Lawsuits Against Biden

There are several lawsuits in court, but that is how the U.S. Government systems work.

We have the president who can make executive orders or rules, we have the Congress who is in charge of the laws, and the courts, that when there is a conflict between states or people, there is confusion about the right or the restriction to pass an order, it is the federal courts that can decide on those lawsuits.

We have seen several lawsuits about the border laws, DACA, and anything related to immigration.

When Trump put the new law in, there were lawsuits against that, now it is the same with Biden, when he is trying to take away Trump’s laws, the same thing is going to happen because there are people who are trying to cancel the law.

What Happened To The Lost Children On The Border?

It was almost a year ago when Biden announced that he was going to cancel the Title 42 law, but only for unmarried children, so he activated the system of Asylum Detention for unmarried children.

The story is quite sad, they were children waiting for their chance alone in Mexico, they were families united in Mexico but coming from other countries, from Central America perhaps, asking for their chance to ask for Asylum.

When Biden announced that only children would be allowed to cross, many parents had to decide to send them alone to care for them, so that they would be safer.

We saw over 30,000 children crossing alone, and that system had shut down under Trump, so that system had to be learned.

The detention centers did not have people to work and care for the children, do or review paperwork, or reunite the children with their relatives in the United States.

90 percent of those children had someone here to receive them, but the system was not ready to process them.

There were many children lost in this system for weeks or months because there were detention centers with 2,000 or 3,000 children trying to make calls to their mothers, fathers, uncles, aunts, brothers, but they could not, because there was no support for them.

A mistake of the 2 administrations is, first, former President Trump for shutting down the system, and second, the Biden administration did not do enough, did not give enough resources or focus on what those families and children need to be reunited soon.

The Abbott Announcement

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott gave a press conference reacting to the announcement of the cancellation of Title 42, he said he was going to bus immigrants from the border to Washington DC, and that he was also going to send police to the border to arrest and interrogate more people.

It is obvious why he did it, because ten minutes after the conference his name was already on many news pages, it was the attention he wanted to make his words go viral and get known.

They know that this is not Constitutional, it is not legal, it is not possible, and there are 0 percent chances of that.

When an immigrant comes to the border to seek Asylum, the person is in the hands of the agency of immigration and is in federal detention, the U.S. Federal Government and the President are in charge of immigrants in detention.

So, it’s not like the Governor of one State out of the 50 States could take the detention of people who are involved with immigration and transport them to other States, the States do not have jurisdiction.

What happens in an Asylum process, is that someone comes to the border, applies for Asylum, does the credible fear interview, and then if you successfully pass, you can get out of detention with your freedom, you can apply for a work permit, live with your family, live in any State you choose because you deserve that opportunity by applying for Asylum.

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First in this event, is President Biden the person who is going to give jurisdiction, the person who could give that power to the Governor of Texas, that’s not going to happen, and immigrants who have been granted their freedom are not going to choose to get on a Texas Governor’s bus to Washington DC.

That announcement is something that makes no sense because it’s not going to happen, but he got the attention he wanted by doing that conference.

What Could Improve After Title 42?

At Lincoln-Goldfinch Law we are expectant and a little concerned about the situation that it has been two years of people in Mexico and around the world calling us out of necessity to come to the United States, and that system is not going to be ready for them.

We are going to encounter a lot of chaos when the system starts up again, all the reporters and the news are going to use this issue of the cancellation of Title 42, to say that we have a huge problem at the border, which is not correct.

The hope we have is that everyone remembers that we have had a system that works, that has given people from all over the world the opportunity to come and ask for protection.

It’s a system that’s not perfect, but we will indeed have to go through that time of fixing the situation of the two years when nothing happened, and now enter the new era of again offering protection to people who are fleeing violence in the world here in the United States.

If you have further questions about the change in the asylum, the border, or your specific case, you may contact us at (855) 502-0555. After a brief 10-minute evaluation of your case over the phone, we will let you know what options you have. You can also follow us on our social networks so you don’t miss our weekly broadcasts on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch.

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Frequently Asked Questions About End Of Title 42

It is a system that is not perfect, but it is true that we will have to go through that time of fixing the situation of the two years when nothing happened, and now enter the new era of again offering protection to people who are fleeing violence in the world here in the United States.

We saw over 30,000 children crossing alone, and that system had shut down under Trump, so that system had to be learned. The detention centers did not have people to work and care for the children, to do or review paperwork, reunite the children with their relatives in the United States.

The change we are celebrating today is that now President Biden has announced that the Title 42 law is going to be canceled for everyone, for adults, families, children, people from Mexico, Cuba, Ukraine, foreveryone.

About the Author: Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch

I am the managing partner of Lincoln-Goldfinch Law. Upon graduating from the University of Texas for college and law school, I received an Equal Justice Works Fellowship in 2008, completed at American Gateways. My project served the detained families seeking asylum. After my fellowship, I entered private immigration practice. My firm offers family-based immigration, such as green cards and naturalization, deportation defense, and humanitarian cases such as asylum, U Visa, and VAWA. Everyone at Lincoln-Goldfinch Law is bilingual, has a connection to our cause, and has demonstrated a history of activism for immigrants. To us, our work is not just a job.

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