Three Years of Title 42

BY ALEX MILLER

In March 2020, the world came to an unfamiliar halt. The COVID-19 pandemic was no longer a looming and distant concern. Events rapidly fell off calendars, schools shuttered, and those who could sheltered in place. Our hopes that the impact of the pandemic would be short lived were shattered with each passing month.

Beyond the drastic toll on human life and shifting public health policies, one startling constant has persisted. For three years now, the United States has turned its back on countless asylum seekers under Title 42— a Trump-era policy invoked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on March 20, 2020.

The border closure under Title 42 immediately stood out for its cruelty. While the Trump administration was otherwise hesitant to implement COVID safety precautions, the pandemic proved to be an opportunity to further restrict migrants’ access to asylum—permitting the U.S. government to rapidly expel migrants to their home country or

Vulnerable Workers Need An Unemployment Safety Net ....3