Biden Administration Announces Plan for Expedited Removal of Migrants

August 2, 2021 | revcom.us

 

Editors’ Note: The following article gives an example of how, while the Democrats have differences with Trump and the Republi-fascists in relation to immigrants, fundamentally, they have NO ANSWERS or real solutions that are in the actual interests of humanity. This follows Kamala Harris going down to countries in Central America telling prospective migrants “Do Not Come.” And the same applies to all the other systemic problems confronting the masses of people, such as the continuing epidemic of police murder of Black and other oppressed people. This has to do with the reality that the Democrats—like the Republi-fascists—represent the interests of the capitalist-imperialist SYSTEM, and this system has absolutely no answers for any of the horrors humanity is facing, even as these two forces among the rulers have sharp differences over how to best pursue the interests of their system. This system cannot be reformed, and must be overthrown, through an actual revolution.

As Bob Avakian (BA), revolutionary leader and the author of the new communism, points out in THIS IS A RARE TIME WHEN REVOLUTION BECOMES POSSIBLE—WHY THAT IS SO, AND HOW TO SEIZE ON THIS RARE OPPORTUNITY:

[T]his is one of the rare times when these factors for revolution could be brought into being.

A basic reason why this is true is that there are now very great divisions within the ruling class of the country, and in the country as a whole—and, more than that:

These divisions among the ruling powers, and in the larger society, cannot be resolved within the framework that has existed, and has held things together, for nearly 150 years, since shortly after the end of the Civil War which led to the abolition of slavery—they cannot be resolved on the basis of the capitalist “democracy” that has been the “normal” means of capitalist rule (dictatorship) for so long.

Something radically different is going to replace the framework that has existed for all this time—and as the “Declaration and Call” sharply points out:

the crisis and deep divisions in society now can only be resolved through radical means, of one kind or another—either radically reactionary, murderously oppressive and destructive means or radically emancipating revolutionary means.

***

On July 26, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it intends to use “expedited removal” to speed up the deportation of thousands of migrant families with children who cross the U.S.-Mexico border without papers.

Under the “expedited removal” policy, agents of the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) are able to expel immigrant families captured at the border immediately, without a hearing before an immigration judge. This procedure first started under Bill Clinton and has been used by both Democratic and Republican presidents since then. Under expedited removals, families will be quickly screened, and unless they are able to present a “credible fear” of persecution or violence in the country they fled, they will be summarily deported. Azadeh Erfani of the National Immigrant Justice Center pointed out that “Expedited removal was designed to bring migration from Black, Brown, and Indigenous people to a standstill, at the expense of due process and the right to asylum.”

Leaving the decision on asylum up to CBP officials instead of the courts violates both the principles and laws of the asylum system. In the past, when expedited removal has been applied, it has forced unknown numbers of qualified asylum seekers back to the dangers they fled, often to their deaths. For example, being denied the right to appear before a judge means women who've survived a dangerous trek in search of protection from domestic violence, sexual violence, human trafficking, and other forms of gender-based violence now face a greater risk of being forced back to those horrors without ever having the chance to present their case.

This decision by the Biden administration to fast-track the deportation of migrant families comes on top of their continued use of a federal order called Title 42, which the fascist Trump/Pence regime invoked in March 2020 to immediately expel hundreds of thousands of asylum-seeking migrants, under the pretext of protecting the U.S. against the spread of COVID-19. Title 42 enabled Trump, and is now being used by Biden, to deny the right to apply for asylum to all asylum-seekers except unaccompanied minors and those traveling together as families coming to the border in the name of protecting public health.

The July 26 DHS announcement made clear that “expedited removal” and Title 42 work together as deportation weapons: “Beginning today, certain family units who are not able to be expelled under Title 42 will be placed in expedited removal proceedings.” This is in compete violation of the law and of the rights of people seeking asylum. Starting with Trump and continuing with Biden, over 752,000 migrants have been expelled from the U.S. under Title 42.

“There is zero daylight between the Biden administration and Trump administration’s position”

There is mounting opposition and condemnation by immigrant rights and human rights forces, progressive legal forces, and physicians to the continued use of Title 42. “The Biden administration’s use of Title 42 is flatly illegal,” said Lee Gelernt of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The ACLU sued Trump over Title 42, and the Biden administration continues to defend the policy in court. Gelernt said, “There is zero daylight between the Biden administration and the Trump administration’s position.”

Physicians for Human Rights issued a report¹ on July 28 documenting some of the harmful medical and human rights consequences of the expulsion policy. The report discusses family separations, abusive treatment by U.S. and Mexican government officials, and acute medical and psychological effects on asylum-seeking children and adults, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety.

The huge numbers of unaccompanied minors crossing the border continue to be held for long periods in filthy and dangerous health conditions at overcrowded facilities. Some of this was spotlighted last week because of news reports of a whistleblower complaint filed by volunteers at a huge detention facility at Fort Bliss near El Paso, Texas. The complaint describes a COVID outbreak that spread to hundreds of children in the overcrowded facility, putting some in the hospital, while those in charge did all they could to keep it covered up.²

Surge of Immigrants at the Border

Biden's decision to use expedited removal along with Trump's Title 42 comes as the surge of immigrants to the U.S.-Mexico border is now greater than at any time in the past 20 years. From last October 1 to the end of this June, over 1.1 million undocumented migrants were apprehended. Border agents captured over 188,000 in the month of June alone. Of those captured, nearly 56,000 were parents and children traveling as families—an increase of 25 percent from May. The greatest numbers are fleeing horrific conditions of poverty, hunger, and violence in the Northern Triangle (Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador), as well as Mexico. As we wrote recently,³ on top of the devastating effect of the pandemic, climate change is forcing more and more people to escape in order to survive.

Unlike the Republi-fascists, the Democrats shed some crocodile tears when talking about these immigrants. But as there is an increasing flow of people arriving at the border in desperate search of safety and a means to live, they are instead being expelled in greater numbers and at a faster rate than ever.

 

1.  Physicians for Human Rights, Neither Safety nor Health: How Title 42 Expulsions Harm Health and Violate Rights, July 28, 2021 [back]

2. COVID-19 outbreak at Texas migrant kids facility covered up: whistleblowers, New York Post, July 29, 2021 [back]

3. “Migrants Continue to Face Horrors at the Border,” revcom.us, July 19, 2021 [back]

A family from Brazil struggles up an embankment after crossing the Colorado River from Yuma, Arizona on June 10. The Biden administration's plan to fast-track deportation, which violates both the principles and laws of the asylum system, is combined with the continued use of Title 42, originally invoked by the fascist Trump regime to deny the right to apply for asylum to ALL asylum seekers in the name of "protecting public health." (AP photo)

“The demonization, criminalization and deportations of immigrants and the militarization of the border” An excerpt from Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution, a speech by Bob Avakian