The Importance of Asylum in the United States

When the pandemic hit, we saw that Title 42 heavily restricted those who were able to seek asylum in this country. Since Biden took office, Human Rights First says it's identified more than 13,000 incidents of kidnapping, torture, rape, or other violent attacks on people blocked or expelled from U.S. The use of Title 42 has been, despite the relative lack of outrage since the Biden administration took office, bipartisan. In 2021, I spent some time talking to migrants at the southern border for slate. Many of them had come to a small tent city that popped up just feet from the pedestrian border crossing. You can see America through defense there, but you can't get there.