Sign up for our newsletter.

Quality journalism. Progressive values. Direct to your inbox.

Follow us:

A family is taken to an immigration processing center after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.

A family seeking asylum prepares to be taken to a border patrol processing facility after crossing into the U.S. on June 16, 2021 in La Joya, Texas. (Photo: Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

'Vile': Biden DHS to Turn Away Migrant Families Under 'Expedited Removal' Policy

"This administration continues to seek efficiency over safety and due process for migrant families."

Julia Conley

Immigrant rights advocates are decrying what some called an "appalling" Monday night announcement by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that the Biden administration will return to the use of an "expedited removal" process to send families seeking asylum back over the U.S.-Mexico border if they can't convince immigration agents that they need refuge in the United States.
 

"The expedited removal 'procedure' involves sitting across a desk from a government agent signing a deportation order. There is no ability to see a judge... or otherwise understand the process. This is not due process."
—Camille Mackler, Immigrant ARC

Groups including Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center and the ACLU had hoped the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would revoke Title 42, under which the federal government has had the authority to send to Mexico any undocumented immigrants who attempt to cross the southern U.S. border.
 
Instead, DHS on Monday said that some families, many of whom Mexican officials have refused to accept under Title 42, "will be placed in expedited removal proceedings" to provide "a lawful, more accelerated procedure to remove those family units who do not have a basis under U.S. law to be in the United States. "
 
"The announcement we had been hoping for was about an end to Title 42," Linda Rivas, executive director of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center in El Paso, Texas, told the New York Times. "This administration continues to seek efficiency over safety and due process for migrant families."
 
Under the policy, immigrant families who are intercepted by immigration agents at the border will be screened promptly to determine if they have a "credible fear" of persecution or violence in their home country which led them to seek asylum. 
 
If an agent determines there is no credible fear, families will be expelled from the country without an immigration judge hearing their case.
 
The policy has been used by both Democratic and Republican administrations in the past. 
 
Before Monday's announcement, thousands of families who Mexico would not accept under Title 42 have been sent by U.S. Border Patrol agents to stay in shelters while they wait to appear in immigration court.
 
The departure from that system "is not due process," tweeted Camille Mackler, founder and executive director of Immigrant ARC, which provides legal services to immigrants and was formed after legal advocates descended on John F. Kennedy International Airport to provide support to immigrants when the Trump administration announced its travel ban in January 2017.
 
Robyn Barnard, senior advocacy counsel at Human Rights First, described "how due process is run roughshod by expedited removal."
 
"There is no 'right' or 'wrong' way to seek asylum," Barnard tweeted. "It is a legal right to be able to do so however you get here. When you block the ports [under Title 42] and leave people in desperate and dangerous situations, what other options do they have?"
 
Heidi Altman, policy director at the National Immigrant Justice Center, called the DHS announcement "vile."
 
"Expedited removal sends asylum seekers back to harm," said Altman. "End it."
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Comments

We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.

To donate by check, phone, or other method, see our More Ways to Give page.

Related

A U.S. border agent detains asylum seekers

Physicians Group Documents 'Severe' Health and Human Rights Impacts of US Expulsion Policy

Jake Johnson ·

ICE Deportation

UN Official Decries Biden's 'Troubling' Deportations Under Pretext of Pandemic

Brett Wilkins ·

abolish-ice

'A Stunning About-Face': Rights Group Lambast Biden for Expanded For-Profit Immigrant Detention

Andrea Germanos ·

Activists participate in a rally urging the expansion of Social Security benefits in front of the White House July 13, 2015

'It Is Urgent': Progressives Push for Bill to Expand and Improve Social Security

Andrea Germanos ·

Latest News

See all
Guterres

UN Chief Urges Global Solidarity on Covid, Climate, and Debt Relief

"The last two years have demonstrated a simple but brutal truth, if we leave anyone behind, in the end, we leave everyone behind," said the secretary-general at the opening of the virtual Davos summit.

Jessica Corbett ·

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema at a Senate hearing.

Sinema's MLK Day Tweet Sparks Online Fury

One group criticized the Democratic senator from Arizona as "the white moderate MLK warned us about."

Andrea Germanos ·

Dana Nessel talks to reporters outside a federal courthouse in Detroit, Michigan on October 16, 2013, five years before she was elected attorney general of the state.

Why Did Democratic AG Kill Flint Water RICO Case?

"Political corruption poisoned Flint and political corruption shielded the wrongdoers from accountability," said one critic following new revelations.

Kenny Stancil ·

Lee, Pressley, Bush

Progressives Counter Cherry-Picked Quotes With MLK's True Legacy

Calling out those who have "weaponized" his words "to justify legislated white supremacy," Rep. Ayanna Pressley said King "was a radical dreamer with a bold vision for revolutionary change."

Jessica Corbett ·

Yolanda Renee King, Arndrea Waters King, and Martin Luther King III lead the annual D.C. Peace Walk: Change Happens with Good Hope and a Dream across the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge for Dr. Martin Luther King Day on January 17, 2022 in Washington, D.C.

'No Celebration Without Legislation': King Family Leads Voting Rights March

"I will not accept empty promises in pursuit of my father's dream," said Martin Luther King III.

Andrea Germanos ·

Support our work.

We are independent, non-profit, advertising-free and 100% reader supported.

To donate by check, phone, or other method, see our More Ways to Give page.

Subscribe to our newsletter.

Quality journalism. Progressive values.
Direct to your inbox.

Subscribe to our Newsletter.

Common Dreams, Inc. Founded 1997. Registered 501(c3) Non-Profit | Privacy Policy
Common Dreams Logo

To donate by check, phone, or other method, see our More Ways to Give page.