U.S. Sec. of State Antony Blinken observed International Migrants Day earlier this week by reconfirming the United States' commitment to protecting migrants' rights around the world.
Blinken commemorated International Migrants Day Dec. 18 with an official statement and a post on Twitter, where he wrote "On #InternationalMigrantsDay, we recognize the rights, contributions, and journeys of migrants worldwide. Through @StatePRM and our partners, the United States is working to protect migrants and promote safe, orderly, and humane migration globally."
Blinken stated the same commitments in the DOS's official statement, and that the U.S. recognizes also the struggles of individual migrants, writing "(t)here are hundreds of millions of international migrants globally, each a person with a name, a unique story, and a reason for leaving their home."
Education, employment, family reunification are among the reasons people choose to migrate, Blinken stated, whether temporarily or permanently. He stated that 100 million or more people "have also been tragically displaced worldwide" in 2021. Some were forced to flee their home countries due to political upheaval, conflict and violence, human rights violations and abuse, economic hardship and climate change, Blinken stated. The challenges forcing people to migrate were worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic, Blinken noted in the statement.
Title 42, pandemic-era restrictions implemented by the previous administration to keep migrants from seeking asylum in the U.S. in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19, were set to expire today (Dec. 21). More than 2.5 million migrants were denied asylum under COVID-19 restrictions since March 2020, the Associated Press reported earlier this month.
With more than two million migrants intercepted by U.S. border officials in Fiscal Year 2021, and tens of thousands more waiting at the border, critics of lifting Title 42 warn of an influx of migrants that will overwhelm cities from El Paso to New York City. El Paso, Tex., Mayor Oscar Leeser declared a state of emergency in anticipation of Title 42's expiration, telling the El Paso Times that up to 6,000 people per day could come into El Paso, at a time when temperatures go below freezing and city services are struggling to keep up.
New York City Mayor Adams of NYC issued a statement declaring the city is not prepared for the influx of migrants, which could reach 1,000 per week if Title 42 is allowed to expire, Gothamist reported.
“Our shelter system is full, and we are nearly out of money, staff, and space,” Adams said in the Dec. 18 statement. “Truth be told, if corrective measures are not taken soon, we may very well be forced to cut or curtail programs New Yorkers rely on.”
Currently, the status of Title 42 is in limbo; on Monday, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily blocked a lower court's order to lift the restrictions while leaving open the possibility that Title 42 could still be lifted, the AP reports.
