Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area (LSSNCA) welcomes the signaling from the Biden Administration that it will end Title 42, a decision that is long overdue. This harmful policy denied more than 1.7 million people fleeing persecution their lawful right to seek asylum in the United States by perpetuating a harmful myth that they were a public health threat. We have worked with many individuals who experienced torture, abuse, and other inhumane conditions either while waiting in Mexico for their immigration cases to work their way through U.S. courts or once expelled to the conflict-ridden countries they fled. Overall, more than 4,000 unaccompanied children and 190,000 families were expelled under Title 42 since its inception in 2020. The policy was also used to expel a disproportionate number of Central Americans and Haitians seeking asylum in the United States. We hope the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Biden Administration agree that it is time to end this policy and its use by the proposed May 2022 date, if not sooner, and that this is just one of many reforms to be implemented by the Administration to ensure all seeking safety are treated with dignity and respect and ensured due process.
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