Biden administration considering reinstating the detention of migrant families

As President Biden prepares for the end of Title 42, the public health regulation that allows authorities to turn away certain migrants at the border, he is considering the reinstatement of detention for migrant families who cross the border between ports of entry, a policy he ended upon taking office, when he promised to develop a more humane approach to immigration. The administration had largely ended the practice of family detention, releasing them temporarily into the US while monitoring their whereabouts. 

Recently, however, President Biden has been returning to tougher border enforcement practices, which immigration advocates view as a return to some of the restrictive policies instituted under the Trump administration. Jennie Murray, President and CEO of the National Immigration Forum states, “Detaining families is not in line with American values. Nor is it the solution Americans support to address border and immigration challenges. Family detention failed to deter migration under the previous three presidents, and there is no reason to believe results would be different now. Rather than detain families, the administration and Congress should work together on solutions that prioritize human dignity as well as orderly processes.”

The future remains uncertain for Afghan women who fought alongside US troops 

Thirty-nine members of the Female Tactical Platoon made up of Afghan women who fought beside US Navy Seals and Army Rangers escaped Afghanistan when Kabul fell and arrived in the US under humanitarian parole. Twenty members remain in hiding in Afghanistan. If these 39 women are forced to return to Afghanistan when their two-year humanitarian parole ends in August, it is almost certain that they would face severe retribution, an imminent plausibility since The Afghan Adjustment Act (AAA) stalled in Congress last year. "Afghans who were admitted on temporary humanitarian status can only gain permanent legal status through the asylum system or Special Immigrant Visa process (SIV), which both face severe backlogs and long processing times,"  notes a statement from the office of Sen. Chris Coons, the lead sponsor of the AAA. This bipartisan legislation would allow our Afghan allies to apply for permanent legal status and would improve and expand the SIV process for them as well. You can contact your legislators using this link to urge them to work quickly to pass the AAA.