'We are not criminals,' say migrants protesting Title 42
STORY: The demonstrators chanted “we are migrants, we are not criminals,” as they walked from a nearby migrant shelter to a pedestrian bridge near the border entry.
“Now you can see that all the people are crossing every day. Every year, it's the world's most fluid port of entry, so I think there is no reason why migrants can’t come through every day to make their asylum request. The asylum is a right under international law and the United States can and should accept these people," said activist Emem Maurus, with the U.S Transgender rights center.
Thousands of migrants have waited for months in northern Mexico to enter the United States to apply for protection. Monday was supposed to mark the moment when the U.S. government finally dropped a pandemic-era policy that has largely prevented them from seeking asylum in the United States.
However, a Louisiana court said on Friday (May 20) that U.S. authorities were unable to immediately proceed with plans to lift restrictions that empowered U.S. agents at the Mexico-U.S. border to turn back migrants without a chance to seek asylum.
Title 42 is a pandemic-related deportation policy enacted by former U.S. President Trump in March 2020, which essentially closed down the U.S. asylum system at the Mexican border.
