Top Democrat Shreds Biden Over New Immigration Measures: ‘Erases the Words and Values on the Statue of Liberty’
Allison Bailey/NurPhoto via AP
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) blasted the Biden administration on Thursday over its latest immigration announcements.
“The Biden Administration’s decision to expand Title 42, a disastrous and inhumane relic of the Trump Administration’s racist immigration agenda, is an affront to restoring rule of law at the border,” said Menendez in a statement.
Title 42 is a health protocol that has allowed for the immediate expulsion of immigrants when there is, say, a pandemic.
Menendez blasted a policy that prohibits people from seeking asylum in the United States unless they were denied asylum by another nation.
“Additionally, their decision to create an unlawful transit ban erases the words and values etched on the Statue of Liberty,” he said. “I am deeply disturbed that instead of working with Congress to develop a solution to the multiple humanitarian crises that are fueling mass migration in our hemisphere, the Administration is circumventing immigration law which will exacerbate chaos and confusion at the Southern border.”
Menendez lamented that too many asylum seekers fleeing violence and persecution in their home countries.
“While I’m glad the Biden Administration will be increasing access to parole for an extremely limited number of Cubans, Nicaraguans, Venezuelans, and Haitians, this benefit will exclude migrants fleeing violence and persecution who do not have the ability or economic means to qualify for the new parole process,” he said. “Ultimately, this use of the parole authority is merely an attempt to replace our asylum laws, and thousands of asylum seekers waiting to present their cases will be hurt as a result.”
