Women’s Refugee Commission Welcomes Court Decision Blocking Expulsions of Families, Urges Biden Administration Not to Appeal

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia today issued a preliminary injunction in the Huisha Huisha v. Mayorkas case challenging Department of Homeland Security (DHS) expulsions of migrant families under “Title 42,” a Trump-era order from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that misuses public health authority under Title 42 of the U.S. Code in order to unlawfully block and expel individuals seeking protection at the U.S. border with Mexico. The judge’s order, requiring that migrant families have the opportunity to seek asylum, will go into effect in 14 days.

In response to today’s decision, Ursela Ojeda, policy advisor for the Migrant Rights and Justice Program at the Women’s Refugee Commission, issued the following statement:

“Today’s decision confirms what we’ve been saying all along — expulsions under Title 42 are xenophobic and unlawful and must be stopped. Although the court’s injunction only applies to families seeking asylum, expulsions of single adults under Title 42 are also illegal and must end immediately.

“In March 2020, the Trump administration used the COVID-19 pandemic as a pretext to block people — including families and unaccompanied children — from seeking asylum at the US-Mexico border. Title 42 expulsions have never been about public health, but rather were the final step in the Trump administration’s racist and illegal efforts to end asylum altogether. Since the start of the pandemic, experts have maintained that it is necessary and possible to simultaneously safeguard public health and allow access to asylum at the border.

“Despite these facts, the Biden administration made the unconscionable decision to continue expulsions after taking office and, since February, has expelled more than 690,000 people — depriving them of due process and the opportunity to seek protection. These expulsions are cruel and deadly — frequently resulting in the rapid returns of families and adults to the very same harm they’ve fled, hours after they reached the U.S. to exercise their lawful right to seek protection.

“We are profoundly disappointed that the Biden administration has kept this policy in place for so long and glad that the court did the right thing by blocking it today. We call on the Biden administration to comply with the preliminary injunction and not to appeal the order. It is well past time for this administration to change course by ending expulsions and other cruel, unnecessary, and unlawful deterrence based policies and start living up to its promise of building a more humane and orderly immigration system that welcomes with dignity.”

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