Faith, immigrant groups in Milwaukee push for compassion as Title 42's fate hangs in the balance

Interfaith religious and community leaders in Milwaukee on Tuesday called for the lifting of a Trump-era immigration policy that has denied scores of migrants crossing the Mexican border an opportunity to seek asylum in the U.S.

The group held a press conference at City Hall Tuesday, decrying the policy as illegal and contrary to the ideals that shaped this nation.

“We are a nation of immigrants and of faith and now is the time for all of us to live our faith,” said Darryl Morin, national president of Forward Latino, a nonprofit advocacy organization.

Asylum seekers should be welcomed into the United States, a nation founded by people fleeing persecution, Morin said.

Title 42 of the Public Health Service Act of 1944 bars non-citizens and non-permanent residents entry into the U.S. to prevent the spread of communicable diseases. Former President Donald Trump invoked the law during the pandemic to stop the spread of COVID-19. Immigration advocates say it was a pretext to prevent migrants from entering the country.

The rule allowed border patrols to immediately expel hundreds of thousands of migrants over two years without due process though federal law allows any non-citizen within the United States to make a claim for asylum.

Title 42 was set to expire Wednesday, but several Republican-led states sought an emergency appeal granted by the court, leaving the rule in place temporarily. The states argued lifting the rule would lead to a surge of immigrants in their states taxing social services.

Christine Neumann-Ortiz, Executive Director, of Voces de la Frontera, an immigrant rights organization, called Title 42 a deadly and discriminatory policy that has no public health justification. Her group has received three to four asylum cases per week, many of them involving persons from Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Venezuela.

Those seeking asylum are often women and children fleeing violence by cartels, domestic violence or violence because of their gender identity, Neumann-Ortiz said.

Title 42, she said, denies these individuals “their lawful right under international treaties and US law for humanitarian relief.” Though her organization works with several groups to provide shelter clothing, health care and legal support, Neumann-Ortiz said more is needed to fix the nation’s failing immigration system at the federal state and local levels.

“We need to do more to invest in immigrant integration,” she said, noting that funds are needed to create a “welcoming center” to coordinate these efforts. Additional legal services are needed to help people apply for asylum within the first year.

“There just are not enough attorneys who can do that pro bono,” Neumann-Ortiz said.

Religious leaders urged for compassion during Advent and Hanukkah. Migrants are coming to the United States to escape persecution, poverty and violence, just as Jesus and his parents did during the time of King Herod, said Bishop Paul Erickson of the Greater Milwaukee Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

"Jesus was a brown-skinned person himself who knew what it was like to be a refugee, who knew what it was like to not have a home to lay his head," he said.

“This tragic and horrific experience is being relived countless times at our southern border as families fleeing persecution, violence and chaos are seeking to claim their legal right for asylum in the United States,” he said. “They have been denied the opportunity to do this by the misguided and mistaken use of Title 42. It’s high time that this draconian policy be put to rest.”

Rabbi Jessica Barolsky, of the Jewish Community Relations Council, said Jewish scripture instructs those of faith to welcome others, particularly those in need.

“As Jews, we too were strangers in a land that was not ours, and we are required to take care of those in our world and in our community who are the most vulnerable,” Barolsky said. “But Torah tells us strangers and citizens should have one standard of law. That all who live in the same land should be treated in the same way. The Torah reminds us … that when someone seeks refuge with us we may not turn them back."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee's faith, immigrant groups call for Title 42's expiration