4/1/22

By Josh Rubin

[The Administration has announced that Title 42 will be rescinded as of May 23, 2022.]

The pretense that the policy of mass expulsion of migrants coming to our southern border had something to do with Covid-19 is being maintained even as its termination date is being announced. The policy, known as Title 42 because it relies on a regulation that allows laws that assure the right to request asylum to be suspended in a “health emergency,” will draw its final breath on May 23, and we, with bated breath, will watch to see what substitute obstructions will be placed in the way of the right of human beings to migrate, something they have been doing since the first Homo sapiens made their way out of Southern Africa, and settled in every corner of the world.

The policy was the brainchild of the Trump administration, and to the everlasting shame of the Biden presidency, was kept in place for as long as people could be made afraid enough of the risk of COVID-carrying foreigners, an excuse to do what our government does, under whichever party—draw lines, build walls, wave weapons, jail refugees—all justified by the principle of “we got here first” which, of course, we didn’t. And even if we had, do such schoolyard rules satisfy you and me as the standard for moral adulthood?

Do you, as I do, have the sneaking impression that Title 42 is fading away now because of the embarrassment of our government at the spectacle of turning away Europeans under this policy, Ukrainians and Russians, whereas before, it was palatable enough to turn away folks with darker skin? Has the 24 hour barrage of images from the borders and war zones of Europe been enough to awaken shame here at our own doorstep?

I wish I could be more cheerful about the end of this chapter, but I remember, and so do you, what comes next. The expansion of prisons, most run by private companies for profit, the system rigged so those who need legal representation the most will receive the least. The walls, the fences, the deserts, the desperation. The eyes that most of us will never see.