Pushed back, beaten and exposed: Testimonies from the US-Mexico border
Voices from the Field29 March 2022
For two years, under a policy known as Title 42, the United States government has used the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to close its southern border to asylum seekers. This devastating policy has exposed highly vulnerable people to more violence and danger.
Title 42, invoked by the Trump administration in 2020 and repeatedly extended by the Biden administration, allows the blocking and expulsion of people seeking protection at the US border. The policy has been used to authorise over 1.45 million expulsions from the US to dangerous cities along the US-Mexico border, where people are abandoned with limited access to shelter, basic services, and at threat of violence from criminal gangs or police.
Every day, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams in Mexico witness the fear that asylum seekers and migrants face due to the policy of Title 42. For two years we have repeatedly stated that there is no legitimate public health justification for Title 42.
Title 42 is a xenophobic policy disguised as public health protection that does nothing but put vulnerable people in harm’s way. There is no excuse for continuing to misuse the order to turn away asylum seekers and block their right to seek protection. The Biden administration must end Title 42 immediately.
More:
https://www.msf.org/human-cost-title-42-stories-us-mexico-border