Press Release

Nogales, AZ – On Monday, March 21st, the #WelcomeWithDignity campaign and a coalition of People Seeking Asylum, Immigration Advocates, and Supporters will hold a national day of action calling on the Biden Administration to end Title 42 for all. The groups will organize peaceful protests in both México and the U.S. at federal buildings, congressional offices, and ICE and DHS facilities to demand they stop using an obscure public health code as a pretext to block people from seeking safety. Advocates will decry the racist intent and impact of the policy and underscore the disproportionate harm it does to Black people seeking asylum. 

When: Monday, March 21, all day

Where: Nogales, Sonora & Arizona, Tijuana, Washington DC, San Francisco, Phoenix, for more locations and information go to welcomewithdignity.org/take-action

Context: While the Biden administration has pledged to welcome Ukrainian refugees “with open arms,” in recent days Ukrainians seeking safety have been turned away at the southern border, with border agents citing Title 42. Epidemiologists and public health experts have repeatedly called on the Biden administration to revoke the Title 42 order, stating that we can both protect public health and the lives of people seeking refuge by relying on the kinds of public health measures we all now use.

Under Title 42, President Biden has illegally deported more than 20,000 people on 200+ flights, including thousands of women, many pregnant, infants and young children, back to Haiti. As the world watched people from Haiti being brutalized by Border Patrol agents in Del Rio in September 2021, the Biden administration seized on the horrific Title 42 policy to deport planeloads of asylum seekers back to Haiti in chains and often without their knowledge. 

President Biden promised the world an about-face from the racist treatment of immigrants by Trump. Instead, Biden is carrying out what is now the largest mass expulsion of asylum-seekers in recent history, deporting nearly as many people to Haiti as the past three presidents combined. 

As national groups continue the call to restore the legal right to seek safety, prominent voices like Dr. Fauci, UNHCR, Senator Majority Leader Schumer, and more members of Congress than ever are calling on Biden to end the deadly policy that disproportionately impacts Black and African asylum seekers. Most recently, Human Rights First has identified at least 9,886 reports of kidnapping, torture, rape, and other violent attacks on people blocked in or expelled to Mexico due to the Title 42 policy during the Biden administration.

The Welcome with Dignity Campaign is composed of more than 95  national and regional organizations committed to transforming the way the United States receives and protects people forced to flee their homes to ensure they are treated humanely and fairly. To learn more and join our campaign visit: welcomewithdignity.org

###