140 organizations are urging congressional lawmakers to reject white supremacist ideology and stop an effort attempting to codify Title 42, the anti-asylum policy schemed by noted racist Stephen Miller. While a right-wing judge last month blocked the CDC from ending the order, Senate Republicans have threatened to hold critical funding hostage until they can get a vote to continue the anti-asylum policy indefinitely.
The organizations note that this threat comes as the mass shooting in Buffalo “is the latest in a series of tragedies directly inspired by white supremacist ideology,” including anti-immigrant rhetoric. “Let us be crystal clear: all efforts to villainize and keep migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees out of our country are part of a larger, violent white supremacist project,” they continue.
RELATED STORY: Senate Democrats may help GOP keep Stephen Miller's anti-asylum policy in place indefinitely
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“Efforts to upend our asylum system are directly related to these theories and the attacks they inspire,” organizations write. “Despite a recent court ruling that will keep Title 42 in place indefinitely, far-right members of Congress are threatening to hold hostage important COVID funding legislation to move forward policies that would dismantle our asylum system for years to come, blocking refugees and asylum seekers of color at our borders.”
Far-right members of Congress may do this with an assist from a small group of Senate Democrats. As previously noted, the amendment that would continue the anti-asylum policy would likely be based on the bill put forward by Republican James Lankford and Democrat Kyrsten Sinema. It has support from Joe Manchin, Mark Kelly, Maggie Hassan, and Jon Tester.
Organizations including America’s Voice, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, Haitian Bridge Alliance, Lambda Legal, MoveOn, NAACP, and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights write that “[s]upport for the Lankford-Sinema legislation sends a dangerous signal to the American people,” and it would “be a vote to codify Stephen Miller’s and a designated hate groups’ signature policy.”
Organizations that advocate for LGBTQ migrants have previously reminded us that Title 42, which has been used as an excuse to quickly deport asylum-seekers in violation of their rights, was “the brainchild of Stephen Miller long before COVID-19 even existed.” A then-official with the previous administration “said the ideas about invoking public health and other emergency powers had been on a 'wish list' of about 50 ideas to curtail immigration that Mr. Miller crafted within the first six months of the administration,” The New York Times reported more than two years ago.
“The Biden administration made the absolute correct—and long overdue—call to finally lift Title 42 to allow people to pursue their legal right to seek asylum,” they continue. The Biden administration has already appealed the recent court ruling. “Supporting the Lankford-Sinema bill or any amendment like it that could shut the doors on asylum at the border indefinitely flies in the face of our nation’s values and commitments,” organizations continue.
Manchin was the lone Democrat to join Senate Republicans in a May 26 vote opposing a new rule by the Biden administration promoting a more efficient asylum system. Senate Republicans united to bash migrants while ignoring any substantive action on Buffalo, giving their tacit endorsement to racist mass murderers. By ignoring any substantive action on all mass killings, they’re also saying they value their mass murder machines over our lives.
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LGBTQ advocates remind us that Stephen Miller was scheming policy 'long before' COVID 'even existed'