Despite promising a more humane approach to immigration, the Biden administration continues to implement two of former President Donald Trump’s most controversial asylum policies — Remain in Mexico and Title 42.
Congressman Juan Vargas, who represents San Diego’s border region, joined a growing list of Democrats who are criticizing the administration for continuing to use these policies to block asylum to tens of thousands of people along the southern border.
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“I think it’s inhuman,” Vargas told KPBS. “It’s not right. It goes against our constitution, our values.”
In September 2021, Vargas was one of 29 Democratic representatives who signed a letter urging Biden to terminate the Remain in Mexico program.
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Under that program, asylum seekers were forced to wait in Mexico while their immigration cases were adjudicated. While in Mexico, asylum seekers had little-to-no access to legal representation and were targeted by criminal organizations.
Human rights groups documented hundreds of cases of robbery, assault, kidnapping and rape.
The Biden administration initially terminated the program but brought it back after a federal judge ruled that the action violated proper administrative procedure.
Vargas said Biden should have fought the ruling.
“That’s a horrible program,” he said. “We never should have done it. We should have challenged the court. We should have told the court ‘no,’ and taken it all the way up.”
On Monday, Vargas was one of 33 Democrats who signed a letter demanding the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) end Title 42 — a public health order that allows border patrol agents to turn away asylum seekers without due process.
Since being enacted in March 2020, Title 42 has been used more than 1.3 million times to turn people away at the border, according to the letter. It has been under constant scrutiny from medical associations and even CDC staff.
The letter points out that Dr. Anthony Fauci, Chief Medical Advisor to Biden, has publicly stated that migrants are not a major driver of COVID-19 spread in the United States and that expelling migrants is not how to solve an outbreak.
“The U.S. should end Title 42 expulsions and adhere to the recommendations from public health experts to safely process people seeking asylum,” the letter states.
Vargas was the only member of San Diego’s congressional delegation to sign the Title 42 letter.
He and Congresswoman Sara Jacobs were the only two local representatives to sign the September letter regarding Remain in Mexico.
Democratic congressmen Scott Peters and Mike Levin did not sign either letter, nor did Republican Darrell Issa.
