This was unexpected.
A rather large group of Democrats sent a letter to President Biden to sound their concerns against his plan to expand Title 42 along with his newly proposed asylum “transit ban”. The Democrats have gone as far as accusing Biden of breaking the law and violating asylum law and international obligations.
According to Newsweek, 77 democrats signed the letter urging President Biden to reverse Title 42 and to drop his transit ban rule.
Some of the Democrats who signed the law were: Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, and Representative Greg Casar of Texas.
In the letter the Democrats threatened President Biden and said, “We urge the Biden Administration to engage quickly and meaningfully with members of Congress to find ways to adequately address migration to our southern border that do not include violating asylum law and our international obligations.”
Menendez later said that immigration policies and actions should not “come at the expense of fulfilling our commitment to restore and protect the rights of asylum seekers and refugees.”
It is important to remember that Title 42 is a Trump-era policy that was instituted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Democrats further noted in their letter to Biden, “We are further concerned by the administration’s announcement that it will be issuing a proposed rulemaking in the coming days that would require asylum seekers to first apply for asylum in a transit country instead of allowing them to seek their legal right to asylum at our southern border. This, in effect, is a transit ban.”