The State of Our Union: Fighting for Justice for Immigrant Children and Families

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Tuesday, February 7, 2023 

Media Contact: media@theyoungcenter.org 

Washington D.C.— Tonight, President Biden addressed the nation in his annual State of the Union address where he applauded his administration’s recent border enforcement policies, including the dangerous expansion of Title 42 to deny the majority of asylum seekers from Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba and Nicaragua from seeking safety in the U.S. These policies deny people their legal and human right to seek asylum in the U.S. and continue to put families, children, and adults seeking safety directly in harm’s way. 

Mary Miller Flowers, the Senior Policy Analyst at the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, said: 

"When President Biden first took office, he pledged to restore asylum, to protect immigrant children and families, and to remedy the tragedies of family separation. Many of these promises remain unfulfilled, and for some, it is even more difficult to seek safety at our borders. Instead of fighting to rescind Title 42, which continues to close our borders to anyone seeking protection in the U.S., the Biden administration has expanded the order, barring the majority of Venezuelan, Haitian, Cuban, and Nicaraguans from exercising their right to apply for asylum.  

Title 42 returns children and their families to known danger. It forces parents to make an impossible decision: stay in perilous conditions together or separate so that their children might enter the U.S. alone to find safety. It is time to end Title 42 and reject any policy which separates children from their families, even if this is an unintended consequence. The U.S. must live up to its values, uphold the right to asylum, and ensure that we act in the best interests of children, regardless of their immigration status.  

As an organization devoted to immigrant children’s rights, the Young Center will continue to hold the Biden administration accountable to its promises. We will fight for justice and accountability for every child and family wronged by our country’s broken immigration system.” 

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The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights is a non-profit organization that protects and advances the rights and best interests of immigrant children and advocates for an immigration system that treats children as children first. For press inquiries, please contact Anabel Mendoza at media@theyoungcenter.org