The CEO of the Center for American Progress (CAP) and member of former President Barack Obama's administration has issued a response to federal plans to address the end of Title 42.
Patrick Gaspard, CAP president and CEO, said in his April 28 statement that the organization "welcomes" efforts by the U.S. Departments of State and Homeland Security to address the expected increase of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border when Title 42 of the Public Health Services Act ends May 11.
"As the nation approaches the long overdue end of the cruel and ineffective Title 42 policy, CAP welcomes the State Department stepping up to the plate to join the Department of Homeland Security to increase access to legal immigration pathways," Gaspard stated.
The DHS published an update May 1 to its "six-pillar plan," underway for more than a year to increase security measures at the U.S. southern border at the end of Title 42. The measure was enacted in March 2020 to give the Centers for Disease Control authority to expel migrants and asylum seekers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gaspard in his statement applauded measures to increase access to legal immigration pathways and called upon President Joe Biden's administration to adopt additional humane and orderly border management measures. He urged the administration to vastly expand access to protection at U.S. ports of entry, increase the "shockingly low" rate of refugee admissions, and ensure that asylum seekers can still seek asylum at the border.
Gaspar also encouraged "increasing support for communities receiving immigrants; resourcing the asylum system; and creating an effective, federally organized transportation strategy so immigrants can reach their final destinations without falling prey to dehumanizing political stunts."
"Deterrence is not border security, and punitive measures targeting asylum seekers place people who need protection in harm’s way and do not work to address the root causes of displacement," Gaspar concluded in his statement. "We need more legal pathways, not fewer. Our nation and our economy depend on it."
Prior to becoming CAP president and CEO and CEO of the CAP Action Fund, Gaspar served in the Obama administration in several key roles, his biography on the CAP website records. He was the U.S. ambassador to the Republic of South Africa in Obama's second term; served as Democratic National Committee executive director from fall 2011 to spring 2013; and from 2009 to 2011, was director of the White House Office of Political Affairs
