ACLU Urges President Biden to Abandon Disastrous Immigration Proposals

WASHINGTON — President Biden yesterday expressed his support for the harmful anti-immigrant policies being considered in the ongoing supplemental funding negotiations. In his statement, President Biden also indicated that he would use a new emergency authority to shut down the border.

In response to this news, Deirdre Schifeling, Chief Political and Advocacy Officer at the American Civil Liberties Union had the following reaction:

“There are real challenges at the border, and now is the moment that we need our leaders to move forward effective policy solutions that will improve port processing, support communities receiving migrants, and create lawful pathways to citizenship for Dreamers and others.

“But let’s be clear: cruelty is not a policy solution — and barring people from seeking protection is both callous and unworkable. We’ve already had an expulsion authority before — Title 42 — and we know that it did not stop people from coming to the U.S. Instead, we saw record numbers of families and individuals arriving at our border seeking protection, and Title 42 caused tremendous harm to people fleeing danger.

“Voters want to see our elected leaders do the hard work to fix our frayed immigration system. President Biden and Congress must abandon these proposals and heed voters’ demands for fair and effective immigration policies that manage the border and treat people seeking safety with dignity.”