February 2022
Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
President of the United States
Kamala Harris
Vice-President of the United States
Dear President Biden and Vice-President Harris,
Mt. Toby Monthly Meeting (Quakers) in Leverett, Massachusetts appreciates the many ways in which your administration is working to restore democracy and humanity to our troubled country. We are writing now to express our dismay at your administration’s decision to expand the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) and to deploy these rules, along with Title 42 of the U.S public health law, in order to turn away families and individuals who are seeking safety in the United States.
As Quakers, our opposition to these policies is rooted both in our belief that there is that of the sacred in everyone, and in our spiritual leading to uphold the inherent value of every human being. We are committed to building a world without violence, where all people are treated with respect. We are all part of the same human family, so we believe that the human rights of all migrants should be upheld and that they should be treated with dignity and compassion.
A year after taking office, your administration’s continued support of the MPP violates U.S. asylum law and evades U.S. treaty obligations by blocking and returning asylum seekers to places where their lives and safety are in peril. We urge the administration to terminate these harmful, illegal policies and to ensure that people fleeing persecution and torture can request asylum and other protections at the border, including at ports of entry. We were hopeful after your administration’s early and repeated statements decrying MPP as dangerous and inhumane, and we were glad to see memoranda issued to terminate it. Given that, we find it inexplicable that your administration has chosen to expand MPP beyond its scope under the prior administration. This deadly program cannot be implemented safely, humanely, or in compliance with U.S. law and international protocols under the Geneva Convention.
We are also gravely concerned about the decision in January to renew the Title 42 order issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for another 60 days and to use this unjustifiable policy, in conjunction with MPP, to block, return, and expel people seeking asylum in the United States. Although the Covid-19 pandemic continues, experts have made clear that there is no public health justification for barring people seeking protection at the border on the basis of infectious disease. While we acknowledge the legal challenges your administration has encountered in reversing policies of the previous administration, nothing prevents this administration from halting the use of Title 42 to block and expel asylum seekers.
We urge your administration to immediately and permanently end these destructive policies, both of which are inflicting violence on people seeking safety in our country. Please use the authority of your administration to restore the core human right of access to asylum in compliance with U.S. and international refugee laws.
Yours in hope,
Susan Conger, Clerk
on behalf of Mt. Toby Monthly Meeting