The application of a public health norm is an “abuse”, qualify NGOs

Jessica Xanthomilla

Newspaper La Jornada
Saturday, October 15, 2022, p. 7

The application of Title 42 to Venezuelans seeking to enter the United States is an abuse of a public health order that eliminates the possibility of applying for asylum in that country, increases the pressure in the shelters of the northern border –by expelling them to Mexico– and forces migrants to use unsafe routes to reach US territory, asserted human rights organizations.

Due to this rule applied since March 2020 to Mexicans, Guatemalans, Hondurans and Salvadorans, more than 960 thousand people were expelled between October 2021 and August 2022, highlighted the Washington Office for Latin American Affairs (WOLA, for its acronym in English). . He added that thousands more will be added to them, since in that same period, 153,905 Venezuelans were found trying to cross the border, according to figures from the US authorities.

Although the International Organization for Migration, the UN Refugee Agency and the United Nations Children’s Fund recognized the announcement by the governments of the United States and Mexico of a new admission route so that at least 24,000 displaced from the Bolivarian Republic can enter US soil, they emphasized that these initiatives cannot undermine the fundamental human right to seek asylum.

We remain concerned about restrictions on asylum, which are inconsistent with the norms of international lawincluding Title 42, manifested, and reiterated the call to be put an end urgently.

Many people subject to that rule have been sent to border communities with significant security challenges, limited support networks and inadequate accommodation capacities, making their return to Mexico dangerous and unsustainablethey underlined.

Gretchen Kuhner, director of the Institute for Women in Migration, considered that Title 42 It’s worst than the already suspended Stay in Mexico program, which forced thousands to wait for their asylum hearings in Mexican territory, because the former eliminates the possibility of seeking protection.