Innovation Law Lab Statement on 3-Year Anniversary of Title 42

Today marks the three-year anniversary of the implementation of Title 42, an anti-immigrant policy that the U.S. Government uses to quickly and unlawfully expel people fleeing violence without respect for their right to seek asylum. By implementing Title 42, the Trump and Biden administrations have put countless people in harm’s way, doing so under the false pretext of public health despite overwhelming evidence that the policy has done nothing to protect public health and much to undermine it.

Ian Philabaum, Co-director of Anticarceral Legal Organizing with Innovation Law Lab, made the following statement:

“The fact that Title 42–a policy based on a lie and motivated by hate–has been used every single day for three long years…will go down in history as a shameful act of violence so despicable that future generations will gasp in horror to learn what was done under the false pretense of public health. Title 42 exposes people seeking safety to murders, kidnappings, sexual assaults and targeted attacks that could be prevented by respecting the human right to apply for asylum. The blood of all harmed by Title 42 is not only on Trump’s hands. It is on Biden’s hands, Mayorkas’ hands, and the hands of all who have defended and continue to defend this indefensible policy.”

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Innovation Law Lab, based in Portland, Oregon with projects around the United States, is a nonprofit organization that leverages law, technology and organizing to fight for immigrant and refugee justice. For more information, see www.innovationlawlab.org and follow us on social media: @innovationlawlab on Facebook & Instagram and @ThinkLawLab on Twitter.