Why is Biden continuing a cruel Trump policy? He should stop expelling Haitian migrants immediately | Editorial

The solution is simple. The politics will be hard. But a smart, capable and compassionate president like Joe Biden is up to the task.

He should immediately rescind Title 42, the health order from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under which Haitian migrants, and others, seeking asylum are being expelled from this country without so much as a hearing. The order was a practical directive when issued as the coronavirus was taking hold last year.

However, it was weaponized by the Trump administration to simply get rid of migrants. And the expulsions are continuing under the Biden administration, which is on the defensive, and should be. This now-misbegotten policy should be a big part of the discussion when the House Foreign Affairs Committee meets on Friday to focus on Haiti, its constitutional breakdown and migrants.

Who are the almost 1,000 people who have been returned by the Biden administration without a credible-fear interview? Men, women, families — including the smallest of children.

Intercepted at border

The majority of them are arriving at our southern border, as opposed to being intercepted by boat or plane. According to Jake Johnston, research associate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, the uptick in Haitians arriving from Mexico began in 2015. He said that “many Haitians went to South America after the earthquake,” which devastated swaths of the country in 2010.

The reason? “There was a recession, and Brazil and Chile had construction jobs,” he told the Miami Herald Editorial Board.

But conditions changed once more populist leaders ascended and brought anti-immigrant stances with them, coupled with economic slowdowns.. “Going back to Haiti didn’t look like an option,”Johnston said. “The best option was the very arduous and dangerous journey.”

Not all of the migrants are being sent to Haiti — which so many haven’t called home for four or five years — by plane. Some are being pushed back into Mexico.

Double-edged sword

We understand the president’s dilemma: Should he lift Title 42, he risks a deluge in which other migrants flood the border. Already, former President Donald Trump is calling the arrivals of Central Americans at the U.S.-Mexico border a “crisis.” Biden also risks looking too soft on immigration at a time when Americans are still facing their own “arduous” journey back from the ravages of the pandemic.

But Haiti, too, is a ravaged nation — plagued with kidnappings, gang violence and a downward spiraling economy. President Jovenel Moise says his term ends next year. His opponents insist his tenure ended last month. Biden is backing Moise’s version, which means there likely will be little relief from the conflict and uncertainty. And into this roiling situation, the Biden administration continues to send migrants.

A Feb. 23 letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, spearheaded by Miami U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson — and signed by 61 House colleagues — said: ”In many cases these deportees are families and children who likely pose no security threat. The Trump administration misused Title 42 to summarily expel hundreds of thousands of migrants while denying them due process and access to the asylum system in contravention of international legal obligations.

“Numerous public health experts have also called on the CDC to rescind the Title 42 order as it has no scientific basis as a public health measure.”

Both are salient points. We will add a third: Immigrants are not the enemy here. And to deny them any semblance of due process is simply wrong.

This story was originally published March 12, 2021 at 6:00 AM.