The Biden administration’s asylum ban has had a profound impact not only at the U.S.-Mexico border but throughout the entire Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region, where HIAS operates over 70 field offices across 11 countries.
In preparation the end of Title 42 enforcement on May 11, the Biden Administration has announced policies restricting asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border while committing to facilitate and expand resettlement for displaced people from the Western Hemisphere.
At least 39 people died and dozens were injured Monday night in a fire at the National Migration Institute in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, an area where HIAS is active in assisting asylum seekers.
On January 5, the Biden administration announced that Title 42 — the public health order that was invoked by the Trump administration at the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, which in essence stops most people from seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border — would be expanded.
In a moment when asylum seekers and other migrants are frequently regarded as threats, HIAS and T’ruah brought rabbis to the U.S.-Mexico border to speak to the moral imperative at the heart of this issue: recognizing the humanity of those seeking safety in the United States.
Title 42, the public health order that was issued by the Trump administration at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic that has stopped people from seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border ever since, was blocked by a federal judge. Now what?