WASHINGTON, DC – FWD.us President Todd Schulte issued the following statement in response to the Biden administration’s announcement on their actions coming around the end of Title 42:

“Today’s news on expanded and improved legal migration pathways by the Biden administration is an important and welcome step in the right direction. Expanding and improving safe and working legal pathways in the Western Hemisphere is the right thing to do for those in need of refuge, looking to reunite with families or work in the U.S., it benefits Americans in the country today – and it is also smart policy to reduce challenges at the U.S.-Mexico border. We again, however, call on the Administration not to move forward with the proposed asylum transit ban or pair announcements like today’s on legal pathways with hardline deterrence efforts.

“These substantial increases in refugee resettlement in the Western Hemisphere are a very welcome step. Expanding on the successes of the existing parole programs by including new countries, as well as ensuring the Family Reunification processes for Cuba and Haiti actually work, will ensure people can access orderly channels in a more timely and safer way, all while taking a first step toward reversing historic neglect and underfunding that has left the overwhelming majority of individuals and families in the Western Hemisphere with effectively zero safe, functional, and legal pathways available to come to the U.S. Moreover, expanding the number of CBPOne appointments at ports of entry is important – and we call on the Administration to continue not only to expand the number of appointments, but immediately to address the connectivity challenges and inequitable access issue so that Black and indigenous migrants do not face discrimination. The government must invest in ensuring the success of these programs.

“In the ongoing debates over how the U.S. should seize the opportunities and meet challenges around migration, a massive component missing from the conversation has been the critical need to build legal pathways. This is the right thing to do, and providing legal pathways will reduce incentives for people who today see crossing between ports of entry and applying for asylum as their only option.

“The end of the destructive Title 42 policy was always going to be hard, but we should not allow for the further political weaponization of this moment. Today’s announcement on the use of expedited removal, including against families, is a step in the wrong direction. And again, we implore President Biden to embrace building a set of diverse legal pathways and not move ahead with the proposed asylum ban in the weeks ahead.”